Death By Aptonoth G
by HyperBrachydios
Summary: Continuation of DBA by Zappyzor to an extent, though it barely matters and there's a recap chapter 2. The occasionally serious series of events that make up the lives of a group mostly consisting of monster-taming hunters. This is parts 2 to however many parts I decide to split it into, part 1 is bad but luckily there's a remake which is slightly less bad but not by much.
1. The Inevitable Daily Grind

**In this world, there are monsters.**

 **That is its most basic rule.**

 **Because those monsters exist, there are hunters, forged through countless battles, who live to counter them and their threats.**

 **They live by the message of the guild's logo.**

 **Respect for nature.**

 **Prosperity from nature.**

 **Crafting from nature.**

 **Life as a community.**

 **They are among the first selected to fight against the threat of monsters like elder dragons, ancient beings with power that can change the world at their leisure.**

 **They are the people who will help to push forward research into monsters, locations and even the ancient past.**

 **They will have many legends about them, all of which have been documented and inspire the next generation.**

However, this isn't a story about that type of hunter.

This is a story about a bunch of hunters trying to get there, albeit without much success so far.

* * *

A hunter ran down the volcano, chased by an Uragaan.

He was on a linear path, with no way around the Uragaan.

They had no means of stopping the rocky wyvern, so all they could do was run until an opportunity presented itself.

The hunter's name was Joseph, a member of the Claptrappers (how or why the name came about is unknown, even by its founders). He used a bow, and was one of the founders himself. He was probably the main character.

At this point he was really starting to feel tired, but prized his status of "not crushed by an Uragaan" above all else at that point.

* * *

He continued to sprint down the path until coming across another path. Leading up the mountain. "Perfect." He thought.

That is until he saw another hunter being chased by another Uragaan running down the path.

"But why!?" He yelled before the hunter caught up to him.

The other hunter looked down the path that they hadn't gone down, before seeing another Uragaan.

"Oh, 'sup Joseph?" He asked, now paying attention to things that aren't Uragaans.

The hunter this time around was Zach. By coincidence he happened to be a member of the Claptrappers (it's theorised that he thought of the name). He used a gunlance and had such a strong afro game that he could've probably blown up the sun.

"Not much," Joseph replied "Just running away from a deadly Uragaan of death. You found the target, yet?"

"Nah," Zach confirmed, ready to drop some hot, steamy exposition "We're looking for the one with the scar on its eye, right? The one that has been fighting all the other Uragaan and winning, forming a gang of Uragaan."

"Pretty much."

Zach looked around. "Well, it's been fun. Have fun with the Uragaan." He said, already running off.

"HEY! DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!" Joseph yelled, also running.

* * *

They continued until a new hunter appeared, bring their Uragaan to the table.

This one was Ben, uses a switch axe. Also founder. Eccentrically violent. He was the type of person who would frequently type angry messages in full capitals. He disapproved of the name, but the plot demanded that he couldn't change it.

"Hey guys what is up." Ben asked.

"The top of the mountain." Joseph replied.

They then started to hotfoot it out of there again, Smokey.

* * *

Callum got his own Uragaan and joined.

This is Callum, uses Dual Blades. Somehow founder. Forgotten. Assuredly not the main character.

Callum got ready for his introduction, but the others didn't stop running.

Callum also started running.

* * *

Later down the line, a new hunter appeared.

This one be Riko, Great Sword dude. Due to numerical order, not a founder. He's different. Also reckless. He thought the name of the group was clever (but he was wrong).

"Hmm…" He thought.

"What do you want?" Zach asked.

"Well there's five of us, and five of them, right? So I think, THAT IT'S TIME FOR A COUNTERATTACK!" Riko yelled

"YEAH!" Ben also yelled

"BACK US UP, GUYS!" Riko yelled as he and Ben rushed at the Uragaan.

"Sure thing."

"Got it."

"Yes."

Riko and Ben charged at the Uragaan. They drew their weapons and turned to check their support and they saw the three of them running away.

"Um…" Is what Ben said before they were both knocked flying by the group.

Ben and Riko ended up going much faster than they did running when they rolled down the hill.

"Huh, good for them." Callum thought aloud.

* * *

Alexandra watched the duo roll past and was confused.

She was one of the members of the group, still not a founder. Used a lance. Acted as the group Tsukkomi. If you don't know what that is then go watch or read yourself some of them there Gintama. She thought the name of the group was kind of weird, but decided to judge the strength of the hunters in it for herself. Nowadays however, she's changed her methods of judgement to judge groups based off of their name.

"Why?" She asked.

Zach then also rolled past, saying "Why not."

Callum rolled past "Don't hate it-" however he was cut off because he was going too fast to say the entire line.

He was followed by Joseph, who ended the sentence long struggle by saying "Until you try it!"

"A-are idiots telepathic?" She questioned as she started to run down the volcano.

* * *

A lone hunter jumped down dramatically.

This hunter was Anthony, a hunter using a hammer. Unfortunately, his personality overlapped with Riko's somewhat so he felt really underused at times. So, not wanting to be written out of existence, he was constantly trying to think of new ways to be different. As one could guess at this point, not a founder. He had never heard of the name, as it was last mentioned a few chapters before be joined.

On this hunt, he was trying out being the silent but strong. The type who would always be super reliable when the plot needed them to could also be a few chapters based around their character and what they do for fun. However, upon instinct he ended up being dramatic in his jumps as up until recently he had been playing the role of an incredibly hyperactive hunter.

He got ready for the others to interact with him, but his thought was cut off when Riko and Ben both rolled past him.

He was briefly confused, but was once again cut off in his thoughts by Zach, Callum and Joseph rolling past him.

Anthony seemed to have his spirits dampened by this, and just kind of felt overshadowed by the others and how early they were written into existence.

Alexandra ran up to him and started patting him on the back.

"It's okay dude, I'm here for you." Alexandra tried to comfort him

"I… I just don't know what roles are even usable at this point, you know?" He sighed.

* * *

Ben and Riko kept on rolling down the hill, until Riko regained consciousness.

He then noticed that they were approaching a cliff.

He got up and just about managed to stop Ben before he went flying off.

The others stopped rolling or running down the hill.

They looked at the cliff, then back to the Uragaan.

Zach looked as though he had an idea, but was cut off by Ben waking up.

When Ben woke up he violently rushed at Zach, Joseph and Callum.

"THE HELL DID YOU ABANDON ME FOR!?"

All three of them flew in different directions.

Joseph hit the wall and slumped onto the ground, only to be pushed up again by a monster.

This monster was a Daimyo Hermitaur.

"Oh, hey Daimyo. Where have you been?" Joseph calmly asked.

* * *

While readers of the first part (all one of you) might understand what's going on (actually thinking about it if you read the first part this is even more confusing for you) if you're new here (more than likely) you won't (it'll make more sense to them, actually).

These hunters had tamed monsters (except Riko and Alexandra)! Some of the first people to do this, in fact (the first part was written before stories was announced so we're pretending that it doesn't exist for the sake of the plot).

However, because they weren't built for the volcano the other monsters were waiting at base camp to be relevant.

* * *

If you've read the first part, you're probably wondering why Daimyo isn't dead. Well… this explanation is boring to a casual reader so I'm saving it for the end of the chapter.

Joseph stylishly posed while standing on Daimyo's back.

"Now, after all this running, it's time for a real counterattack!"

"...Shouldn't the first one have gotten a similar amount of buildup?" Riko complained from the sidelines.

Joseph started repeatedly firing off arrows, finishing with an arc shot.

Daimyo shot off a beam of water from his mouth.

The arrows connected, harmlessly bouncing off the Uragaan's backs.

The beam of water slightly pushed one Uragaan back, but didn't stop it.

There was a long silence, until they started jumping off the cliff.

The Uragaans rolled off of the cliff and started falling with utmost style, seemingly not caring that they had left the ground behind a few dozen meters back.

* * *

Riko stuck his sword into the cliff, Zach did the same with his gunlance, Alexandra followed the example with her lance, Ben became part of the majority by that point with his switch axe and Callum had to use both swords to slow down.

Daimyo stuck his claws in and Joseph and Anthony, not having weapons that good for slowing down grabbed onto his back.

They briefly paused, wondering how to get down.

Suddenly the rock started to glow.

"Oh hey." Zach noted "I accidentally initiated a wyvern's fire."

"HOW OR WHY!?" Alexandra yelled, before the rock was blown away, sending them all falling down again.

* * *

They ended up falling to the base camp of the volcano, where a Royal Ludroth stopped them mid-fall with its sponge powers.

This Royal Ludroth was called Zappy, he was Zach's monster.

Zappy flailed his arms happily.

Ben nodded in acknowledgement of his Plesioth, Plessy.

Anthony greeted his Lagiacrus, Wave.

Callum then got up and ran over to his Great Jaggi, Roberto Manchez Sanchez the third.

Roberto Manchez Sanchez the third, or Sanchez for short was the heir to a prestigious Jaggi clan. He was the undisputed world wrestling champion and once soloed a Raviente armed with nothing but his arms. Some say that his hip checks were able to split planets in half. Sadly, his life took a turn for the worse when he accidentally killed one of his opponents in the ring. Ashamed of himself, he tried to commit suicide. However, being too awesome to die he just ended up with amnesia. He also had 99% of his original power sealed away, so he can only destroy a planet when he really pushes his limits. But anyway, now he's an up and coming monster hunting Jaggi.

Alexandra looked over and saw two Raths descending into the next area.

She notified the others, got some supplies and started to move.

The Azure Rathalos landed, riding on it was Sean.

Sean was one of the newest members of the group, having joined after the thing that happened in Tanzia with the things. Heavy bowgun was his weapon of choice, with a shield attached. He was silent a lot and valued money above all else. So he prioritised the quest's success. Unfortunately, this didn't leave much of a regard for human life. He also thought the name of the group was stupid, but was here because they made for some useful pawns. The name of his Rathalos was Azure.

Behind him landed a Pink Rathian, the rider being Alicia.

Alicia was tied with Sean for newest member, and could be described best as a deredere. She was wielding a light bowgun, with a silencer attached. She was a deredere to Sean, to an unhealthy level. No one really knows why, because that'll probably be saved for when I'm out of ideas. She hadn't even realised the group had a name.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Sean yelled "I found the leader!"

"Cool!" Zach yelled back "Where are they?"

"Well I brought them here!"

An Uragaan with a scar on its eye appeared.

"Oh."

Ben ran at the Uragaan. "Heh, it's on its own, so now we can take it down!" before suddenly an Uragaan hit him. This was one of the Uragaan from earlier, who had fallen off the cliff. They had gone on an amazing adventure through the surroundings of the volcano before finally colliding with a really angry hunter.

The Uragaan then bounced off into the sunset.

Joseph looked at the now airborne Ben and said "Godspeed." while wiping a tear from his eye.

* * *

Alexandra charged at the Uragaan, stabbing it with her lance.

Callum assisted, riding into battle on Sanchez' back. He jumped off and slashed at the Uragaan.

Sean and Alicia started firing bullets, as their Raths rained down with fire.

Daimyo shot off a water beam, pushing the Uragaan back slightly. While Daimyo did this Joseph shot off as many arrows as he could.

Taking advantage of this distraction, Zappy rushed in, hitting the Uragaan with mucus. The mucus slowed it down and decreased its movement.

As Zappy ran by, Zach fired shots at the Uragaan.

Wave shot off lightning. Anthony hopped off of his back to hit the Uragaan on the head with hammer.

Ben woke up somewhat nearby, and Plessy was there. When Ben got on Plessy's back, Plessy started to run towards the Uragaan. It used a hip check, which knocked the Uragaan backwards.

Riko hit the Uragaan with a level three strike.

It was toppled and everyone rushed in.

Suddenly, as they were close Daimyo noticed that the Uragaan was ready to use sleep gas.

Daimyo pulled back, but the others didn't notice.

The Uragaan used sleep gas, and they were all passed out. All of them.

* * *

Joseph was confused, but realised what was going to happen.

The Uragaan curled into a ball, and started to roll forwards.

Suddenly it felt something stopping it.

Joseph struggled to hold it back.

While the Uragaan had the bare minimum of kinetic energy, it was by no means a light monster.

While Joseph wasn't a weak man, though he was a little short, there's a limit to what a human can do physically to a monster without using their weapon. While some weapons could theoretically stop the Uragaan here, Joseph was using a bow.

Joseph felt himself losing ground, being threatened with the prospect of death even more with each passing second.

"I'm… not… gonna… let… anyone… else… die!" He screamed in his thoughts.

Suddenly he felt the Uragaan be pushed back slightly more, and the situation was starting to reverse.

He looked behind him and saw Daimyo, backing him up.

They both pushed together, sending the Uragaan backwards.

* * *

Quickly, they woke everyone up.

Alexandra stabbed into its flesh, Riko slashed at it and Anthony finished the combo attack by stunning the rocky beast.

Then Alicia's Rathian struck at it with her claws, knocking it over and poisoning it.

At the last second, Zach, Sean and Ben rushed forward.

Zach and Sean loaded in a wyvern's fire and Ben got a power phial ready.

Simultaneously they used these attacks on the weakened Uragaan, killing it instantly.

There was a silence, until Zach started to carve.

Then suddenly he was hit by an Uragaan.

Sean also tried to carve, but was knocked away by another Uragaan.

Ben had taken enough hits today and backed off.

More Uragaan appeared and waited.

No matter how many times they tried to attack, they were knocked away by the Uragaan.

"They… They're really loyal to their boss!" the hunters thought in unison.

After a few hours of attempting to get carves off of the boss Uragaan, the hunters decided to go home.

* * *

They got a hell of a lot of money off of the Uragaan quest, so they decided to get some drinks.

So, at 4 in the morning, incredibly drunk, Joseph stumbled into his house. He almost fell over, but Daimyo ended up catching him.

Not bothering to take off his hoodie, he slumped onto his bed and was asleep before he could realise it.

He then started to dream about the past, for some odd reason.

* * *

 **The boy was running**

A shopkeeper chased after them.

The boy was holding some bread, which he treated as his lifeline.

The boy seemed to be getting away, but they turned a corner and suddenly ran into a fairly large man.

The bread briefly flew into the air, but the man caught it mid flight.

The shopkeeper caught up and grabbed the boy.

"Hey, you think it's funny to try and steal from me or somethin'?"

"Oi." The man said "Let the kid go, I'll pay for the bread."

The shopkeeper was confused. The man threw them some money, which he counted. He then unenthusiastically thanked them for their business and walked off.

The man looked at the boy. "Seriously? Stealing bread? You're not the only one who needs food, you know? Isn't what your parents make enough?"

"Ah." The boy replied "I kind of… don't have those."

The man began to walk away.

"HEY! YOU STILL HAVE MY BREAD!" The boy yelled, running after them.

The boy launched into a flying kick, which the man easily blocked.

"Come on," The man said "I wouldn't be able to sleep properly if I let some orphan kid like you starve."

* * *

The man ended up letting the boy choose what he wanted to eat, a decision which he somewhat regretted when the boy went for sixths.

"Seriously!?" He irritatedly thought "How much do you eat? Did your parents eat you because of how much you eat? Did you eat your parents!?"

A woman walked up to where they were.

"Oh, there you are, David." She remarked.

She then noticed the boy, still eating.

"The hell?" She asked, her tone shifting from neutral to menacing "This your illegitimate kid or something?"

David then started panicking "Ah! No, no! I'd never do a-a-a-anything like that! I'm an honest man, honest! Help me out here, ki-" He turned to see the boy running, taking the food with him.

"GET THE HELL BACK HERE!"

* * *

"Ah, I see. So he's just some random kid... W-Why is he eating so much?" "I don't know…" David replied.

Three other boys walked up. They were all around the same height as the first. One had an afro, another had brown hair and the last one had black hair.

The brown haired boy said "Oh. It's a Joseph!" The black hair boy added "Where've you been?" Finally the afro boy said "We already got our food."

Joseph yelled "GUYS! FREE FOOD!"

Suddenly the other three leapt at the table.

* * *

12000 zeni worth of food later, Joseph asked

"So… Who are you guys?"

Oh right, David said "I'm David." The woman then added "I'm Maria."

"We're both hunters, ya know?" Maria said.

"Oh, right we should probably do the thing too." the afro boy noticed "I'm Zach."

The brown haired boy spoke up "Ben."

Finally, realising he was next the black haired boy said "I am the Callum, yes."

There was a bit of a silence until Ben yelled "TELL US ABOUT BEING HUNTERS."

"Seriously?" Maria smirked "Hunting's a difficult job, ya know?"

"Well… there's not really much else we can do... " Callum pointed out "Jobs are getting more and more difficult to find these days."

"...How the hell does a kid this young know that…?" She asked no one in particular.

* * *

So, we ended up following them around for a while. We got food and hunting stories. We heard about monsters like Barroth, Gobul and even more elusive ones, like the Ceadeus.

We learnt a lot from them, mostly about hunting. But there's one thing that stuck with me, even still with me to do this day.

* * *

Joseph was outside, it was near the middle of the night. The others were still in the house, asleep.

A fairly small daimyo surfaced from the sand. Joseph chuckled softly "There you are, Daimyo." He held up a piece of bread "Here, have this. Don't worry, I'll get you out of here soon, okay?"

He heard a noise from behind him. He saw a hunter with a great sword strapped to his back.

"Kid. Move." Said David.

Joseph stood between them both.

David was confused. "...The hell are you doing? That's a Hermitaur. If it grew up, it could disrupt the ecosystem. Daimyo Hermitaur aren't meant to live near Loc Lac. It needs to be killed before it could pose a threat."

Joseph didn't move. "This Hermitaur… he's my monster! You got that!?"

David was confused.

He stopped.

"What… the hell are you talking about?"

There was a silence.

"Daimyo… he's my monster. He's all I have left. If you kill him… then… then I won't forgive you!"

David paused, taking this in. He then spoke.

"I'm not sure what happened, but okay. I think I understand. Until further notice, I'll avoid hunting this Daimyo. If you don't want to talk about them, I won't ask about the circumstances here. But there is still one thing that bugs me…"

Joseph braced himself.

"Why the hell is it that you said that he's all you have left?"

Joseph was confused.

"W-what?"

"Zach, Ben, Callum… are you trying to say that they're not important to you or something?"

"Well… I mean… it's just. I don't really think that they're the same as me, you know? I only have one goal, if that kills me or not, it's fine. They can go out and live full lives. My goal… I might die doing it. So it's fine. Daimyo is the same as me. I shouldn't trouble."

" **I should already have died, so it's fine if I die now.** "

Suddenly David hit him on the head.

"OW! THE HELL, MAN?"

"Don't think like that!" He yelled.

Joseph rubbed his head while David calmed down.

"Whatever happened in the past, it did happen. You might think that should've died, but that doesn't change what's happening now. You have problems and people who care about you. Dying's just irresponsible, no matter whether it matters to you or not."

" **You're alive, so deal with it."**

"I've lost a few people myself, I'm sure that everyone has. So you shouldn't just resign yourself to death over someone else's."

* * *

So eventually, a few years passed.

We grew a lot, though the others grew more than I would've liked.

Then, finally we set out from Loc Lac, made our way to Tanzia and became hunters at age 18.

We rose up the ranks, before getting to high rank and getting our asses kicked. A lot.

Deviljho are tough, ya know?

* * *

Joseph woke up.

The sun was shining outside, it was a beautiful day.

Even though his head felt like shit.

Zach opened the door to his house "JOSEPH!"

Joseph almost died from the noise.

"Shaddup already, the hell do you want?"

"We got ourselves a double Gigginox quest."

Joseph briefly looked up at him, before collapsing again.

"**** that."

Zach suddenly began dragging him out of the house and onto the boat, with Daimyo just behind him.

* * *

He saw Ben, Callum, Anthony and Alexandra also lying down on the boat, dead to the world.

Sean seemed to be doing just fine, a little worse for the weather and Alicia was almost falling over.

Riko was fine, somehow.

Zach finally made his way back to the boat. "Okay then!" He announced "Let's head to the tundra!"

Joseph groaned out a response, before falling asleep.

I don't know if we can become what can be considered a legendary hunter. That is really difficult, even more difficult with all these new legends popping up. We'll probably recognised as "those slightly odd monster tamers" though we'll have to see if that's good or bad.

While we certainly aren't legendary, I think that's okay.

As long as we can live in a state of happiness, despite a little poverty, that's really okay with me.

At least, that's what Joseph thought until he reached the tundra and almost died from the cold.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Please review whatever this qualified as**

If you made it this far, I'm assuming you read the chapter.

So, congratumaltions you did it. This one was double the length of what I expect the others will usually be due to the two stories thingy. Originally it was going to just be the backstory, but it felt quite barebones without a proper introduction and could've scared off new readers.

I do hope the first person perspective wasn't too confusing, I think I could do a fair few more scenes like it for backstories (because trust me, Joseph's was only the beginning, even at that it was only a piece of it) if it's received well enough.

Unfortunately, I can't guarantee too much of a schedule for this series. For those who don't know, I'm currently working on a monthly schedule for another series I'm writing and shamelessly plugging here (it's the only other ongoing story, just check my stories for it).

The style of comedy was styled off of Gintama more than anything, though I'd be lying if it wasn't partially copying Konosuba.

I would like it if you stuck around, unless you're reading this series when it ideally completes in which case HELLO FUTURE PERSON HOW ARE YOUR FUTURE THINGS.

Finally, we reach the explanation about Daimyo. Just leave if you don't mind that much.

Basically, this is in a different universe. If you read the first part, you might the notice the expertly subtle foreshadowing of Joseph saying "Wow that was so powerful it could create an alternate reality or something that smart people would say." this is because it did. My reason for this is because the original fic had two writers.

One for the first eight chapters, then for the final 9 it was me.

The first writer, who shamelessly self-inserted Zach (if you didn't know, everyone's a shameless self insert of someone. Except for Alicia, she's the only non self insert. Good on her) and me, who gave my shameless self insert more screen time until he omitted everyone else's screen time. But now I'm trying to make it less biased, this type of chapter will be quite rare, honest.

But yeah, Daimyo's still alive because super secret plot reason for later and the original had almost no interactions between Joseph and Daimyo despite them being best friends, something I'm trying to fix.

Bye, see you next whenever.


	2. Up To Speed

Why hello there, if you're reading this then you probably tried to read the original DBA and your eyes bled from how badly it was spelt so you're here, at the recap chapter.

Or you know, you're just reading the second chapter.

But before we get into this recap, let's start with a brief introduction to the world.

Not the world of Monster Hunter, if you don't know for that there's a wiki or two somewhere out there.

But this one. Basically, this a fair few decades into the future after wherever the games take place. Time has passed, everyone you ever met on your journey as a hunter is either dead, dying or Wyverian.

The world's advanced a little, but not too much for plot reasons.

Though for some reason there are no new Monsters or weapons until they appear in the games in the real world just don't question it it's science.

But, monsters have moved to different places around the world, hence why there was a sort of ecosystem surrounding Loc Lac.

There's also a lot more people, so jobs can be difficult to find. This leads to a lot of people becoming hunters, so jobs for hunters are fairly difficult too.

Now you may find yourself asking "What kind of fic needs a recap chapter in the second one?" Well the answer is this one, apparently.

So this version will be slightly changed in places to make sense and accommodate for the split in timelines.

* * *

So the story began with a Nibelsnarf hunt with Zach, Joseph, Ben and Callum.

Then in the next two chapters Riko joined the group and Callum was written out of existence.

Then there was an onsen chapter that spent like a paragraph in the bath before Zach and Joseph got bored and attacked people with smoke bombs.

Then Zach became harem MC for the day and accidentally fell onto Alexandra who was joining the group because coincidences **** you.

Then Anthony was there. He called himself Banthony but I changed it because that sounds retarded. Wave appeared, having a noticeable scar on his tail, and didn't listen to him because comedy.

There was a Deviljho there. It killed the Crimson Qurupeco dead. Poor thing, it had a sore throat that day.

The Deviljho then noticed the hunters and they started to run in the other direction.

Then fire hit it and died until it was dead.

Then for some reason the narrative switches to Sean.

Alicia was there following him around and then he leaves on a hunt to hunt something or other.

He saw a Deviljho and was all like "Oh no bro" So Azure hits it with fire and it died until it was dead.

Then Alicia appears with a Pink Rathian and it's there at that moment that them there writers change.

Now from here what happened might change slightly so it actually makes sense.

So now Joseph becomes the main character and goes to the Deserted Island.

Then there was a Deviljho and the Deviljho talks because. But the Deviljho was pretty cool and got him something to drink.

They talked for awhile and Joseph mentioned that he recognises this. It's basically an evolved form of the frenzy virus that makes the monster more intelligent and they can talk wyverian for some reason.

Then the Deviljho mentioned the monster has to die for it to take effect and wondered where the hunter that killed him is. Joseph randomly speculated they'd be in Tanzia.

The Deviljho decided to go destroy Tanzia but Joseph replied "Can't let you do that, Star Fox." To which the Deviljho tries to kill him. Joseph then realised his mistake and started running.

A pointlessly drawn out running scene that lasted an entire chapter later Joseph ended up being chased by the Deviljho while approaching Tanzia.

Guards shot at the both of them, Joseph almost got taken out by an assassin.

Lots of explosions happened but Joseph dodged that shit with the help of a giant ally crab.

People on the wall used a cannon that uses spirit energy (it's the future don't question it) and can fire off a really strong beam with this, though it does kill the user. But the Deviljho regenerated, making it not very effective. The Deviljho then broke down the wall, killing a lot of people.

Then Joseph ended up the town and Sean and Alicia are there by coincidence.

The assassin from earlier started attacking everyone and that's a bad. Her name's also Viridi which was there. For some reason her weapon was able to change into every weapon, which would be questioned if the Deviljho wasn't back.

The Deviljho was there, it broke the weapon and disrupted everyone.

Then everyone was separated for most of the remainder of the arc.

Also Joseph had his bow broken somewhere along the line and picked up a long sword.

Some fighting happened, Viridi left the battlefield. Now at this point in the original story, Daimyo kind of died. But in this timeline, no.

Then a Rajang entered. It and the Deviljho started fighting until a Zinogre appeared.

Then some mysterious dude who talked like **t** _h_ i ** _s_** appeared on an airship and did some shooting.

The fighting continued and the Zinogre retired, before encountering the mysterious dude, called the Director, and got retired in the Jojo context (dead, for those who don't worship our immortal time travelling overlord Hirohiko Araki).

Then the protagonists took out the Rajang, before moving onto the Deviljho and just barely finishing it by stabbing it and having it regenerate around the space laser cannon soul thing.

Then after two months waiting around trying to rescue survivors, there was a boat that would take them to the port nearest to Dundorma.

So after a few days walking (or Monster riding for our lazy protagonists) they arrived in Dundorma, where the recap tragically has its life cut short.

* * *

Zach excitedly ran forward into Dundorma, followed by Joseph, Riko and Ben.

"HOLY SHIT WE MADE IT." Ben yelled.

"LOOK! THAT'S A THING! IT'S A THING, GUYS!" Riko yelled, pointing at something.

"Hey, focus!" Alexandra yelled "The Guild's welcoming the new inhabitants of the city in the middle of the town."

They made their way there and saw people on a stage.

Callum started excitedly screaming, looking at them.

"They're the guild leaders!" He yelled.

There was a man who was of around average height, had a lance strapped to his back and had curly brown hair as well as very shiny glasses.

"Leader of the Science division, Roy Tanner!"

The fair haired hunter's glasses continued to reflect light as he adjusted them, blinding multiple people with their brightness.

There was a tomboyish young woman with long multicoloured hair, black with multiple streaks of pink, blue and white in it. She had a hunting horn on her back.

"Leader of the expeditions division, Hitoiki Costelli!"

She started playing her hunting horn, but also attempted to mix in heavy metal, most of the lyrics ended up incoherent. Something about dolls laughing and marriage registrations in blood.

There was an incredibly buff man who was bald. He was buff. That's all there was too him. He was eternally buff. He could never escape buff. On his back he had dual blades, which was odd considering his buff nature.

"Leader of the combat division, Muskular Musculoso!"

He was still buff. He flexed his muscles and his muscles flexed their muscles, creating an infinite cycle of muscles flexing muscles, eventually reaching a molecular level.

He was buff, at the end of the day.

Finally, the leader of the Guild. She was a tall woman, like the other three a wyverian. Her hair was chin length, not falling anywhere near below that level. She didn't need an introduction, it was well known enough who she was.

Fallon Bachika.

Her weapon preference wasn't known. She had appeared out of seemingly nowhere and taking the hunting world by storm, being given the status when His Immenseness finally gave into old age despite only having been a hunter for five years at that point.

Zach, Joseph and Ben watched Callum announce all off this while being excited.

"Seriously?" Asked Ben "Getting all excited over Guild leaders like that?"

"What is he, ten?" Joseph joked

"No one like that could ever become a pro hunter!" Zach exclaimed.

They all started giggling until Sanchez hip checked them and they were killed instantly yet still incredibly painfully, but were revived because Sanchez.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Fallon began to announce "Welcome to the hunting capital and home of the Guild, Dundorma! While the incident in Tanzia was tragic, we hope that you will be able to begin new lives here in this town. If you don't wish to stay here, there will be details on relocation in the tent to my right! If you are looking for a place to work and a place to sleep, please go to the tent on my left. If you are a hunter, remain standing until the others have cleared out."

In about five minutes, all the people that were left were hunters.

Fallon thought of what to say what for a minute.

"I'm going to be honest… The incident in Tanzia was a near-absolute failure. Unless you can prove yourselves competent, all hunters from Tanzia will be given a ban on any quest involving threats to any village, town or city. However, I will acknowledge that it wasn't just you. The Deviljho was brought to Tanzia by an unconfirmed hunter."

Joseph sweated nervously

"When that hunter is found, he or she will be executed for suspicion of plotting to destroy the town."

Joseph sweated more, thinking of what he was going to write on his last will.

"Unfortunately, the culprit has not yet been discovered. There were no witnesses of them, but that will not stop investigations."

Joseph's sweating eased off slightly, but he was still trying to work out his last will.

"In summary, you are all still allowed to hunt, but for the time being, you are banned on taking on any major threats, such as Elder Dragons."

All of the hunters walked away, feeling kind of "meh".

They didn't expect it to be as good as it was, but not as bad. Some yelling maybe a temporary hunting ban, worst case permanent and they'd have to get other jobs somehow. Instead they got no yelling an a temporarily permanent ban.

Which was okay.

They still had jobs and Joseph's head was still safely attached to his shoulders, for the time being at least.

* * *

The hunters made their way to their allocated houses and dropped off their stuff.

Joseph had picked up a bow since his last one broke. Right now the only one he had was a Diablos Horn Bow, thrown together from bits and pieces he had lying about from the multiple painfully slow hunts he'd done.

After sleeping a few hours, Joseph went outside and found his way to where the others where.

After Anthony finally arrived, they had no real idea of what to do.

"Wait wait wait!" Zach said "What if we made the two hunters from earlier with the Raths join our group?"

"They're not in this group?" Riko asked "I just kind of assumed that they were."

"...We haven't interacted with them for three months."

"IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS!?" Riko exclaimed in surprise.

"But where are they?" Ben asked

"No idea, but Sanchez can certainly locate them."

Sanchez pulled them through time and space to Sean and Alicia.

They were both confused.

Zach broke the silence that had broken out due to the rip in space-time caused by the immortal Jaggi overlord.

"Join us."

Alicia loaded her bowgun, ready to shoot them down, before Sean stopped.

"Why."

"Well you seem strong and you have monsters. By coincidence, we too seem strong and have monsters."

"Do you have money?"

"Yes."

"A lot of money?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure of this."

"Yesh."

"Entirely sure."

"Ye."

Sean paused for a second

"Okay then might as well."

Then they ended up going to the center of Dundorma, leaving behind all of the severely confused and traumatised people who were now incredibly afraid of the true power of Great Jaggi.

* * *

"Huh…" Joseph thought aloud "What now."

"Well I know a place where we could get some drinks." Alexandra pointed out.

They walked into a tavern, relatively busy.

There was an older woman present, looking around 40.

She spotted Alexandra and paused, appearing confused.

She rushed forward and asked "Is that you, Alexandra?"

Alexandra replied "Yes."

Suddenly the woman gave her a bear hug, lifting her off of her feet.

"I was so worried about you with everything going on in in Tanzia! Thank goodness you're okay!"

Alexandra couldn't breathe "Z-Z-Zenya-" was all she could manage.

Zenya then realised that she was cutting off the poor girl's oxygen supply and let her go.

Anthony was confused "So… What's even happening anymore?"

Alexandra managed to recover her breathing "This is a family friend, Zenya Witherell. She owns this place, and just accidentally made an attempt on my life."

Zenya ignored the others and continued her conversation

"So… You're finally back here, then? You planning on staying, or are you leaving with the rest within the next week or so?"

"No, no, I might as well stay here now. Val Habar, Minegarde and Bherna are the only other places I'd consider, I don't really want to be based in some village in the middle of nowhere."

Zenya finally started to acknowledge the others "So then… Can I get you something to drink or are you just gonna keep standing around doing nothing?"

So, after sitting and having a drink or two, they overheard that there'd be fireworks just outside of the city to welcome the survivors of Tanzia.

After paying , having heard from Alexandra that they wouldn't survive if they didn't pay, they went there.

And it was expensive as hell.

* * *

On that day, humanity remembered a valuable lesson.

Dundorma wasn't some innocent place like Tanzia, it was out to get their money.

* * *

"Um… What now?" Joseph asked

"I have an idea." Sean told everyone.

So Sean ended up going just outside Dundorma, everyone following.

They rested on top of a hill, their monsters with them.

The walls in Dundorma were incredibly high, enough to keep out any larger Elder Dragons like a Gogmazios.

Over the top of the wall, they could just about see the top half of the explosions of some fireworks.

It wasn't exactly the most ideal situation, but sometimes a firework soared past the wall, giving the hunters a true spectacle of colours.

After about thirty minutes, the fireworks stopped.

But still, they were certainly enjoyable while they lasted.

Ben sighed, picking up his Switch Axe.

"Come on, we should probably go do whatever quest we're here for, now."

Alicia looked at the sheet "According to this, kill 20 Konchu."

"Huh? Wuzzat?"

"No idea."

Anthony heard this and started smiling "This'll be fun."

"Well… that's ominous." Riko remarked, also walking off.

The group then accidentally walked straight into a Konchu ambush.

It was a hard battle and many lives were almost lost, the cart felynes having to work overtime.

But in the end, Zach managed to become the last one standing through pure luck alone.

He was murdered two weeks later.

 **To be continued**

* * *

Yay recap chapters.

So yeah, the decision to give side characters last names but not my main characters kind of surprised me.

My reasoning for doing this would be that while a side character's relatively unimportant, they can exist upon the author's impulse, the main characters are way more important.

If I gave the main characters last names now, I'd have to go into detail making sure that every single one matched them and wasn't out of place and compare it to other potential last names.

My plan is to get a better understanding for what works and doesn't work for them as I write, so for the time being at least they don't have last names.

In other news, this chapter was originally just supposed to be a recap. But as can be guessed that lasted no time at all and would've been a boring second chapter, so have this out of place slice of life exposition dump.

I'm unsure of when the next chapter will be, but I've at least got a basic outline of it, unlike this one, so I'll ideally see you then.


	3. The Arena (1)

Joseph

Height: 166 cm

Weapon type: Bow

Preferred weapon: Prominence Bow

Preferred armour: Jaggi

Armour pigment: Green

Monster: Daimyo Hermitaur

Age: 21

Place of origin: Tanith Village

Hair colour: Dark Blonde

Hair style: Unkempt, Chin Length.

Eye colour: Blue

Trivia: Can't remember the order of the alphabet.

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Sean yelled at the group.

"I got an idea!"

"What is it?" Zach asked.

"We go to the arena!" Alicia announced.

"Ah, I see." Anthony said "We must be going there to get coins for armour."

"Or to get experience with different weapons." Alexandra pointed out.

"Or to get the best times." Callum added.

"No." Sean replied "It makes money."

"Oh yeah... that is your personality isn't it." Joseph realised.

"I don't know why we were surprised to be honest." Ben questioned "We should've expected it. It's a fairly obvious joke that could've been seen coming with a basic understanding of this character."

"Well… this series does update sort of biweekly so the reader quite easily could've forgotten this, especially considering Sean's minor role in the previous chapter. They have better stuff to read, we're just means of advancing the plot in this barely-passable mush that could be considered a story." Riko stated.

"Um… that's a little harsh…" Anthony complained, feeling his self-esteem lose hp.

"But true."

Then, acknowledging their patheticness in this expansive and cruel world, they went to the arena.

The space for fighting was fairly open.

When they arrived they saw a hunter facing off against what looked to be two insects. One small and one large.

They were fighting side-by-side.

The hunter looked quite battered, wearing Stygian Zinogre armour. He was carrying around a Switch-Axe.

The fight continued on for slightly longer, the hunter tiring out.

When watching the fight, Ben observed that the hunter didn't seem to know how to use the weapon.

"What's up with that guy?" Ben asked

"He hasn't used Sword mode once. He should be able to by now. Does the arena take away phials or something?"

"Hmm?" Alexandra asked "You don't know how the arena works?"

"Eh… never seen much point to it myself, apart from getting to fight new monsters…"

"Allow me to explain!" Anthony yelled, desiring screen time to give himself a purpose.

"The arena works by giving hunters a select choice of sets. Usually five are available for selection. Of course, unless a hunter has mastered every weapon, they wouldn't be able to go for their preferred weapon(s) on every arena quest. So, the arena also doubles as a way of trying out new weapons the hunter may potentially be interested in. It can also be a way of fighting new monsters in a low risk environment or getting in practice against them. By completing these quests you get coins. These coins can be used, to convince smiths that you're worth their time to build nifty, guild-licensed armour. There's also the allure of getting the best times, which will be displayed for the whole world to see. Having good times and nifty armour get you mad street cred and frankly, make you look incredibly sexy to people interested in your gender."

"Ah… I see…" Ben replied, overwhelmed by exposition without a single paragraph break.

Anthony wasn't done yet, though

"Most hunters don't have too much reason to hunt there, as hunting outside means that you get to keep your carves. In the arena, you don't get to keep the parts from the monster you killed, nor can you trap them. Though, there are some hunters who do nothing but arena quests, as you have no need to build gear."

Ben looked back into the arena.

The hunter had worked out how to use sword mode, but were barely attacking.

The larger monster grabbed the hunter with their tail.

The hunter desperately tried to struggle their way free.

The monster didn't take kindly to this resistance and started moving its tail around wildly, slamming it onto the ground repeatedly. The hunter was caught up in this, taking major damage.

After this was over, the hunter was thrown into the wall.

The smaller monster tried to rush at the downed hunter, only to be tranqed by other hunters entering the arena.

The larger monster offered resistance towards the fight ending prematurely, but was inevitably tranqed.

The damaged hunter was carted off.

The crowd was silent.

"Well…" Sean got up and started to move "We should go get registered for our fights."

* * *

The first fight up was Anthony.

He had chosen a LBG with Kecha Wacha armour.

His opponent was a Purple Gypceros.

"Che…" He thought "I just had to be pitted against one of these things, didn't I?"

The purple rubber bird was released into the arena and began screeching its lungs out.

It rushed forward.

Anthony quickly grabbed the bowgun and began to fire normal shots.

The Gypceros closed in and Anthony got ready to dodge to the right.

However, before Anthony began to dodge the Gypceros shot out a ball of poison.

Anthony had no way out.

The Gypceros was close, too close for Anthony to turn the other way and dodge.

While he could go through the poison in normal circumstances, there was a problem.

He had no antidotes.

None.

The box hadn't given him any and he couldn't bring any in.

The moment he hit that poison he'd be standing for a minute at most.

The Purple Gypceros' poison was fast acting.

Anthony's only option was to go through the Gypceros.

He rolled forward.

He was to the left of the Gypceros.

His roll cleared the left leg and he was able to stop before the right.

But, when the Gypceros ran past its tail stretched out.

Anthony was ready for this though, as he pulled out his bowgun.

Fire shots.

The Gypceros flinched and stopped the attack.

Anthony landed and got ready for his next move.

He went over the shots he had.

Normal shots, sleep shots, para shots, flame shots, crag shots and pellet shots.

He loaded in some pellet shots.

Running up to the Gypceros, he irritated it with pellet shots.

He wasn't sure of a plan yet, but the Gypceros was being held back.

Suddenly the Gypceros' crest was struck.

Once.

Twice.

On the third flash, Anthony realised what was about to happen and tried to turn away.

But he was too late and was blinded.

He tried to fumble his way backwards, only to be hit from behind.

He tumbled forward.

"Luckily I wasn't poisoned…" He thought "Still hurts like shit though…"

He loaded in para shots and moved closer.

The Gypceros fired off a poison ball.

Anthony dodged around it, but the Gypceros spun, extending its tail.

Anthony turned to the Gypceros and hit it with para shots, stopping it.

He then switched to crag shots. He had only been given three, as a means of adding to the challenge.

He fired off one, but in his rush he forgot about the slight left deviation on his bowgun, missing the crest.

He reloaded and fired another.

This connected, destroying the crest.

The Gypceros screamed in pain.

Anthony switched to sleep shots.

But, when he looked up, he saw a poison ball over his head.

He tried to dodge but it connected, knocking him down.

He was poisoned.

He could feel it damaging his body despite it only having been a few seconds.

He didn't have long.

He blasted the Gypceros with sleep shots, knocking it unconscious.

It fell to the ground and already Anthony had set out bombs.

Not bothering to change ammo, he shot the barrels, detonating them.

The Gypceros was engulfed by the flames.

It didn't move.

Anthony tried to catch his breath.

"Was it dead?"

"If it isn't dead, the fight will continue. If the fight continues for much longer… I'll faint…"

"What… should I do…"

When the Gypceros wants to play dead, its crest flashes faster and faster before it gets up. But, this Gypceros' crest had been destroyed.

Anthony had no way of telling if it would get up. But he had to make sure it was dead.

His sense of time had already dulled.

How long had he been poisoned?

How long had it been since the explosion?

How long did he have left?

This fear drove him into attacking.

He loaded in a crag shot and placed the gun to the Gypceros' head.

He started to pull the trigger only for the Gypceros' eyes to suddenly snap open.

It thrashed around, knocking Anthony backwards.

"I knew it…!" He thought.

The Gypceros charged, trying to take the advantage.

Anthony loaded in normal shots.

He fired at the Gypceros.

The Gypceros absorbed the bullets, not slowing down.

The Gypceros fell just short of Anthony.

Anthony quickly loaded in his remaining crag shot and put it to the Gypceros' head, pulling the trigger.

The Gypceros tried to bash him with its tail, stretching towards around its back and towards Anthony.

Both attacks connected.

Anthony fell backwards, an explosion came from the Gypceros' head.

Anthony ragdolled backwards.

He was unconscious and needed medical attention urgently, but had won.

 **First fight, Anthony vs the Purple Gypceros. Cleared.**

* * *

Next up was Callum.

He had brought in a great sword, as he wanted to try out something different. He was wearing Gigginox armour.

Callum struggled his way into the arena, weighted down by the oversized sword.

A Bullfango charged towards him.

Callum reached over his shoulder to grab his weapon.

At which point he remembered why he used dual blades.

Great swords.

They're heavy.

Too heavy for Callum to attack with.

Callum didn't know what to do until the Bullfango hit him, knocking him flying.

He fell to the ground, only to be hit by another Bullfango.

The Bullfango started juggling him for a while.

The great sword was knocked out of its sheathe as Callum fell to the ground.

Callum shakily stood up.

He looked at the great sword and saw a Bullfango charging towards him.

He grabbed the sword, slightly moving it.

The Bullfango continued to charge.

It got close and Callum wildly swung horizontally.

The Bullfango received the slash to the face and collapsed to the ground, dead.

The other Bullfango hit Callum from the side, knocking him flying backwards again.

Alexandra looked confused.

"Wait a minute… Why can't Sanchez help him out? I could understand it with Anthony's fight, not much Wave could do against the Gypceros, but Sanchez could easily solve this."

"He can't get in." Zach answered.

"I-I thought he was supposed to have transcended space-time…?"

"Well yeah, but it's against the rules to have outside interference. Sanchez may be a potential destroyer of worlds, but he's a potential destroyer of worlds that respects the rules!"

"The hell does that statement even mean!?"

Callum fell to the ground, his weapon far away.

He saw the Bullfango charging towards him.

He stood up.

The Bullfango closed in.

When it was in range, Callum used his trump card.

 **Punching it in the face.**

The Bullfango fell to the ground and Callum started kicking it while it was down.

The Bullfango let out a death cry as the final kick was landed.

Callum let out an almighty triumphant scream.

Callum's breath was ragged and he was bleeding heavily, but he had won.

Against the first two Bullfango.

Forgot to mention, the quest was to hunt fifty.

At which point, forty-eight Bullfango surfaced.

Callum was stunned.

"Now you might find yourselves asking 'Should I charge at him?', and the answer… might surprise y-"

Was all that he had time to say before the Bullfango charged relentlessly, nearly killing him.

* * *

 **Second fight, Callum vs 50 Bullfango. Failed.**

The third fight was Riko, using a lance.

He walked into the arena.

Looking at his opponent, he drew his weapon.

It was a Malfestio, a giant owl-type creature.

Riko surprisingly hadn't fought one before, so he had no idea what he was doing.

He was pretty sure that it could inflict sleep.

The giant bird flew at him.

Riko raised his shield to block the creature and stuck his lance into it when it was stopped.

The Malfestio reared its head from the pain and flew into the air.

Riko jumped back, due to the Malfestio being directly above him as it landed.

When it landed it spread dust everywhere.

Orange… coloured… dust.

Riko thought that it was weird, but attacked anyways.

And found that he completely missed.

He was disoriented until he was hit by an attack from behind.

He was knocked forwards slightly, but regained his bearings and turned to face the creature.

Riko charged at it, straight into the orange dust.

He then suddenly turned and started charging towards the opposite wall.

"W-What?"

He was facing the wrong way again, not sure of what he was doing.

"Riko!" Joseph yelled from the side "You're confused!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing with my life."

"No, I mean the Malfestio has made you confused! Your actions are inverted."

"What? How does that work? How was I unaware of this?"

"I dunno. But just do the opposite of what you want to do."

"Wait… shouldn't being confused mean that I can't attack? Because not attacking is the opposite of attacking?"

"I really dunno."

Riko turned around and started to run towards the opposite direction of the Malfestio, so he ran towards it.

Suddenly however, he started really doing what he meant to do due to the confusion wearing off and had to make his intention what he intended to do.

He closed in on the Malfestio, at which point a blue beam came out of its mouth.

"What now?" He thought, before the blue beam hit him.

He then felt really tired.

Then the tiredness won and he fell collapsed to the ground.

The Malfestio moved towards him.

It got ready to attack, only to have a lance enters its stomach.

It was confused as Riko got up and pulled his lance out, only to attack again and again.

The Malfestio didn't know this due to its lack of understanding of how the hunting world worked, but the hunter it was facing off against was wearing Nerscylla armour.

It took the offensive, hitting Riko with its wings.

The attack was blocked.

However, the Malfestio had also released some dust.

The dust took effect on Riko and he flinched slightly, but continued attack.

"Heh, you stupid thing. You think that'll still work?"

But it did work in the end, as the Malfestio jumped to Riko's left and Riko ended up attacking to his right.

"Oh… Huh, how about that."

He thought before being knocked away.

Now, the dust was gone.

Riko charged at the Malfestio, which was on its last legs.

It tried to use the sleep beam yet again, not understanding what it was doing wrong.

"Heh… You're still too inexperienced. That'll be your undoing!"

Riko closed in.

The Malfestio swung its tail around in one last attempt at attacking, but Riko was able to jump over it.

He lept onto the back of the creature.

He pulled out his hunting knife and with all his might he drove into the skull of the oversized owl.

The Malfestio fell to the ground with a final cry.

Riko stood up victorious.

 **Third fight, Riko vs the Malfestio. Failed.**

* * *

"Wait a minute, what!?" Riko yelled.

 **You received outside help.**

"WHEN!?"

 **When Joseph explained the confusion status to you.**

"Does that even qualify!?"

 **Yes, it's clearly stated in the rules that the contender(s) can receive no form of outside assistance until the fight has ended, not even verbal.**

Riko looked at Joseph, who was already running.

Riko pursued after him, a being of pure rage and beat him to a bloody pulp, the scene much representing a rage filled teenager on steroids "fighting against" (massacring) a feline boygirl surgeon.

While Riko was arrested and Joseph was given a load of potions so he could fully recover in time for his fight, Ben went to the arena.

* * *

This time he was fighting in the water arena.

He had chosen a long sword.

"Wow, this'll be over fast!" Alicia yelled "He's in his element right now, having a water monster and all!"

Zach stared at her sadly.

"What?"

Ben flailed around in the water.

The Gobul appeared and charged at him.

Ben just about flailed out of the way.

He tried to attack the Gobul, only for it to dodge.

Ben kept on wildly swinging his weapon around, despite the Gobul already having swum away.

"Ben…" Zach began "Ben can't swim…"

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, another chapter another author's comments.

One thing I should clear up from last chapter, things aren't normal if you know the lore.

So His Immenseness was the leader of the guild in my story, but not the games. Also Dundorma's turned into a city and is the hunting capital in my version of events.

My reason for this is that we have no idea where the guild leader or the guild is located.

I still want my story to have stuff to do with the main guild leaders. So… unoriginality activate.

Originally I planned on having this chapter be one. So all nine fights in one chapter.

If that had happened, I would've had to either abandon the concept of a biweekly schedule (I'm doing that for the time being BTW) or have really short fights.

So enjoy this three chapter mini-arc. Like most people in life, it was an accident and will most likely cause regret to its creator later on.

Both the Gypceros fight and Bullfango fight are sort of based off real experiences.

The Gypceros fight was thought up when I was soloing multiplayer quests in Gen (because I'm hardcore/Gen makes it really easy) and I broke the crest.

I knew to back off because I wasn't poisoned, but the lack of telegraph on the revival surprised me.

Bullfango was based off the next fight I had, against a Plesioth.

I was trying to escape a hipcheck and a Bullfango charged into me, knocking me backwards and causing me to scream "YOU ARE AN ACTUAL CANCER!" as my hunter was hit by the giant derpy land shark.

The great sword thing had been in my head since day one, though.

The Malfestio fight was originally gonna be its own chapter, separate chapter. But it was put here when I realised I was in for the long haul.

That'll do it for this half month, see you with the next three fights.


	4. The Arena (2)

Zach

Height: 180 cm

Weapon: Gunlance

Preferred weapon: Lagia Shocker

Armour: Royal Ludroth

Armour pigment: Yellow and Purple

Monster: Royal Ludroth

Age: 21

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Yellow

Hairstyle: Afro, 70s

Trivia: When no one's around he calls his afro "Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann".

* * *

Ben once again tried to look for the Gobul.

"Where… the hell is it…" He thought.

The Gobul appeared once again to try and attack him, to which he swung wildly.

The Gobul swam around the swings, but Ben wasn't done yet.

As the Gobul moved closer to bite at him, Ben swung with a fade slash.

The strike connected, running down the Gobul's face, hitting the right eye, just missing the whiskers and going through the mouth.

The Gobul pulled back, no longer able to see out of the wounded eye, and swam away.

Ben wasn't exactly sure what he just did but judging from all the blood it probably worked out for him.

Feeling more confident, Ben tried to pursue it by flailing his limbs around in a way that made him follow the anglerfish with legs.

However, he kind of maybe lost sight of it when it went and sorta burrowed underground.

"Oh… Yeah that'd be a problem." He thought.

He tried to look around for about thirty seconds, until realising that he'd have an easier time breathing while he wasn't holding his breath.

He began to swim up, only for the Gobul to suddenly surface and start to pull him.

He struggled around but couldn't fight the whirlpool the leviathan had created for him.

He eventually stopped struggling and was dragged backwards.

The whirlpool ceased as the Gobul once again attempted to bite at him.

Seizing his chance, Ben just about managed to dodge the bite.

However, the Gobul had planned ahead and hit him with its tail.

This attack knocked Ben upwards, though that worked out for him.

As quickly as his lack of understanding let him, Ben swam for the surface.

The Gobul pursued him upwards.

It suddenly charged through the water.

Ben was hit by the charge and once again was pushed upwards.

He was flung through the water and into the air, seeing the sky above him.

As he was in the air, he suddenly drew the sword strapped to his back.

He held it as close to the direction of the ground as he could.

He began to fall, as he did this he stretched his arms as far forwards as he could, the sword leading the charge.

He cut through the water, attempting to hit the Gobul.

However, the Gobul had seen this coming from a while away (a mile would be used here, but that could confuse the readers as to how the Gobul launched Ben that far and how Ben didn't die. The Gobul's a good monster, at heart, it wouldn't dare try to confuse the readers)

The Gobul had dodged the attack before it had come near connected and while Ben tried to look for it despite the damage he'd received from the fall paining him, it activated its lantern.

The lantern got ready to flash.

Ben looked over in time to register the Gobul, but his mind failed to register the lantern in time to dodge.

A blinding light filled Ben's vision, restricting it until he couldn't see a thing.

Ben was suddenly hit by another tail swipe.

He kept on feeling himself getting hit by these.

One from the right, one from the left, one from the left, one from the left, one from the right.

Ben tried to reach for his sword, but realised he had no idea of where he was.

Was he the right way around, on his side, on his back or upside down altogether?

He knew that he was underwater, at the least.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled forward, or maybe backwards?

Either way, he was in a whirlpool.

He moved closer and closer to the leviathan.

Eventually, he felt a set of jaws close on his legs.

He tried to scream in pain, but his suffering only turned into bubbles of air that brushed past his face and floated towards the surface, soon to cease to exist.

Wait a minute.

His bubbles, had to go past his face to brush past it to go past his face.

Which meant that... he was upside down.

He grabbed the sword from his backwards and twisted his body around so his sword hit in front of where his feet would've been if not in a Gobul's mouth.

The sword hit something, slicing it off.

Ben felt his legs be released, still hurting where they were bitten.

His vision began to clear and he saw that, as he'd hoped, he'd cut off the Gobul's lantern.

Though… now he couldn't exactly move too well.

The Gobul didn't know this, though.

The Gobul seemed at least somewhat experienced with fighting hunters.

If he tried to drink a potion or sharpen his weapon, the Gobul would probably realise that he was weak and attack.

If he didn't move for much longer, the Gobul would probably realise he was weak and attack.

The Gobul however, chose to burrow underground. It looked up from underneath the ground.

Ben hadn't moved, from what it could tell.

There was a long silence, until suddenly the Gobul charged out from the ground.

It rushed forward and bit wildly.

However, it saw nothing.

This is because it was slightly off to the left.

This isn't because it had bad aim or bad memory, this is because Ben did move.

In the seconds it took the Gobul to burrow underground, Ben took action,

However, his movements had a subtlety to them. Because he barely moved.

But still, he had moved enough to dodge but not enough to be obvious when mentally comparing the two positions.

Ben then initiated a spirit combo on the creature's blind spot.

This dealt a lot of damage, though not enough to be fatal.

The Gobul scampered off once again and tried to burrow to retry the attack, though this time Ben knew what to do.

A few seconds after the Gobul burrowed, Ben through a sonic bomb.

This disrupted the Gobul and caused it to appear while wildly flailing around.

Ben seized this chance, moving towards it as fast as he could.

He took full advantage of this attack time and hit the Gobul with all he had, finishing it with a spirit combo.

The Gobul was dead.

Ben smiled, before passing out due to lack of oxygen.

He'd been underwater for like, ten minutes by then.

 **Fourth fight, Ben vs the Gobul. Cleared.**

* * *

Ben and the Gobul corpse were then retrieved and the next fight began.

This time, Alexandra was facing off against a Zamtrios.

She was using an insect glaive, making a change from the previous fight they were back in the normal arena.

"Well… this'll be a fairly unfair fight. The Zamtrios doesn't have any ice." She thought.

Suddenly the Zamtrios activated its ice armour.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" She yelled.

"There's no ice anywhere in this arena. HOW DID YOU GET ICE, HERE!? HERE OF ALL PLACES!? THE ARENA. ARENA. I CAN UNDERSTAND IT IN ICE AREAS, BUT HOW IN AN AREA WITH NO ICE. NONE. WERE YOU SAVING ICE UP OR SOMETHING!? DID YOU GET ICE FROM THE ITEM BOX OR SOMETHING!?"

The Zamtrios interrupted this rant by shooting out a torrent of water.

Alexandra jumped over it.

While she was in the air the Zamtrios dived at her with its head pushed forward.

She just about managed to dodge the dangerous part of it, but still got hit by the Zamtrios' body.

However, the kinsect had already been given its orders.

It moved towards the amphibian, grabbing white essence before moving back to where Alexandra had been thrown to.

She felt the speed increase.

The Zamtrios tensed its body up.

If Alexandra ran wildly forward, it was more than likely that the Zamtrios would pounce at her.

What happened from there was a variable, but her odds of not getting hit were far better if she stayed in place, though it would end up effectively negating her previous attack.

Eventually, the Zamtrios grew bored and decided to attack.

About 30 seconds had passed, so Alexandra still had her speed buff.

She jumped out of the way of the attack, but wasn't done yet.

She span around as quickly as possible and ran back to the Amphibian, kicking off of its ice armour.

She flew into the air, slashing as she went by.

She went above the Zamtrios as it tried to move into a position to attack.

Finally, Alexandra fell.

The Zamtrios charged forward, attempting to hit her with its head and the sharp ice that extended from it.

However, Alexandra slashed with the glaive, breaking the ice.

The Zamtrios recoiled from the pain.

Alexandra took advantage of this lack of offense to break the armour around the legs.

Angered by this, the Zamtrios roared.

Alexandra was forced to stop to cover her ears to prevent damage to them.

While she did this, the Zamtrios tail swiped at her.

This attack knocked her away.

Still angered, the Zamtrios started to grow larger. Its remaining armour broke off as it was no longer able to contain the street shark.

The Zamtrios continued to increase in size, though more specifically its stomach grew.

Finally, it seemed to reach its size limit.

The hunters observing, who didn't know what was going on, were stunned by this display.

Their silence was broken by Zach asking "Why did it get fat?"

The Zamtrios, now inflated to comedic proportions, jumped forward.

Alexandra just about managed to dodge as it landed, leaving a dent on the ground.

This continued until eventually the Zamtrios got tired.

It stopped to catch its breath, a situation which Alexandra took advantage of.

She jumped into the air and hit the Zamtrios over the head with her glaive, causing it to fall slightly closer to the ground.

She then spent a while not stopping attacking, frantically slashing.

This attack was helped by the kinsect she had sent out earlier, which had now brought her back attack essence.

The Zamtrios rolled away after a while.

Realising that there wasn't much this form could do against the agile hunter, it reverted back to its original form.

However, it couldn't use ice armour for a while, having played both its trump cards already.

Out of desperation, it didn't cease attacking once.

It charged forward, Alexandra dodging, so it could turn and charge again.

Its moves were predictable, which wasn't good at the end of a fight.

When it stopped to try and catch its breath, Alexandra vaulted into the air and brought her glaive down it.

It fell to the ground and she climbed onto its back.

It got up, but Alexandra was already stabbing it with her hunting knife.

The Zamtrios was already tired, so it struggled to shake her off in vain.

The Zamtrios collapsed to the ground.

Alexandra got out two large barrel bomb+ and placed then near to the Zamtrios' head. She then produced a small barrel bomb, gently placing it to the ground and lighting it before running as fast as she could and recalling her kinsect.

The explosion engulfed the Zamtrios, finishing it in that instant.

 **Fifth fight, Alexandra vs the Zamtrios. Cleared.**

* * *

Alexandra, not requiring any form of medical attention aside from a potion or two walked back to where the others were.

Joseph was also back by now, ruffling his hair as he walked.

"Wait a minute," He said "You fought your monster and weren't taken away afterwards?"

"Yeah. I was barely hurt and didn't nearly kill anyone."

"Teach us your secrets." Alicia yelled.

"BURN THE WITCH!" Zach screamed.

Both impressed and confused, Alicia broke the silence by informing Alicia that her fight was next.

* * *

Alicia entered the arena, dual blades strung over her back.

She sighted a Barroth and began to run forwards.

The Barroth suddenly jumped out of the ground, knocking her into the air.

She managed to land shakily and rolled out of the way of a Barroth charge from her left.

The Barroth tried to shake mud onto her, but Alicia managed to dodge around and took the offensive, slashing at the tail of a Barroth.

It was damaged, but not nearly enough to cut it off.

She was stunned by the Barroth roaring. By the time she regained movement, the mud was a split second away from hitting her.

As expected, it did and she couldn't move.

Luckily, the item box had supplied her with cleansers.

These were very effective.

The cleanser used was Cleanser Bang

Bang and the mud is gone!

Distracted by the ad that the narrator was being paid to give, Alicia didn't even notice a Barroth charging at her.

By the time she did notice, she was flying backwards.

Alicia hit the wall on the other side of the arena.

She managed to rise to her feet, just about.

"Damn… this hurts like hell…" Alicia thought.

"I know!" She thought, pulling out a first aid med+.

She drank it down quickly, feeling her wounds healing.

No one was really sure how they worked, but they sure did.

Feeling a lot better after drinking this potion, Alicia stood up confidently.

However, she felt an incredible desire.

She needed to flex.

The lack of flexing that was happening was driving her insane.

How could she possibly drink a first aid med+ without flexing!?

It was a crime.

Flexing should be required by law.

She flexed her muscles happily in the wind, time freezing to appreciate the flex that happened on this day.

However, as she activated「The World」the Barroth also happened to activate 「King Crimson」

Due to no one really understanding how King Crimson works, Alicia ended up getting hit with a charge anyways.

However, this time she took the offensive against the Barroth again.

She ran towards the tail, but as she did the Barroth turned its body around, moving it further away.

Alicia changed directions, only for the Barroth to try and hit her in the face with its tail.

Alicia managed to roll under the attack and turned around once again, jumping forward.

She slashed at the tail with her right blade, damaging it again.

The Barroth tried to move its tail away, but not being done yet, Alicia swung with her left blade, severing the tail.

It flew off and Barroth roared, becoming angry due to this.

It tried to attack with everything it could, including hip checks, charges and mud attacks.

Alicia rushed at the legs, breaking the mud off of them.

She kept on running around, breaking the mud on multiple parts of the body.

Eventually the Barroth was pretty much defenseless.

Recognising this, the Barroth charged forward.

Dodging out of the way, Alicia lunged forward at the Barroth's head.

Her right attack hit the crown, being deflected due to not being blue sharpness, but her other attack connecting as intended.

Into the eye.

The Barroth roared in pain and fell over.

The Barroth couldn't get up due it not having hands.

Alicia grinned evilly.

She then drank a mega dash juice and entered demon mode.

3 minutes 43.7 seconds later, the Barroth died.

Alicia raised her weapon in victory.

She was then hit by a Barroth rising from the ground and flew into the air, landing on her head and falling unconscious.

 **Sixth fight, Alicia vs two Barroth. Failed.**

* * *

As she was carted away Joseph asked "Did… she forget that she was fighting two Barroth?"

"I don't think she ever realised…" Sean remarked.

"How do you even manage to not notice when there's two attacking you at the same time…?" Alexandra asked, confused.

"Well it's pretty simple, actually." Zach began, being cut off by the horizontal line signifying the end of the scene.

* * *

Sean walked into the arena, a gunlance strapped to his back.

He was facing off against an Astalos, one of a group of monsters known as the "Fated Four."

They had simultaneously appeared out of nowhere in certain areas and started fighting against the main predators in their respective areas around 90 years ago.

No one knows where they originated from, but they were aggressive as hell.

Nowadays their numbers had naturally fallen to the point where they had to learn to coexist with other monsters, but whenever a deviant of theirs showed up the guild would have to intervene immediately.

Sean had only ever fought a Mizutsune before, so the Astalos was new to him.

The Astalos rushed at him through the air, Sean just barely dodging the monster.

He drew his gunlance and tried to fight back.

The Astalos was fast though, so all Sean could do was block its strikes with its wings.

Sean kept on losing ground though.

Between attacks Sean was able to strike it with his lance, but that was the extent of his available moves.

Suddenly the Astalos seemed to be charged with lightning and swung its wing forward.

Sean raised his shield as fast as he could, which succeeded.

However the full force of this strike still knocked him backwards.

He flew through the air until he hit the far wall, knocking the air out of him.

He fell to his knees.

"Che… This'll be an annoying one…" He mumbled, getting up to fight.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, another chapter another three fights.

The Gobul fight was sort of difficult, been a while since I last fought one…

The Zamtrios fight would've been easier if I had a better understanding of how Insect Glaive worked… not really my kind of weapon, I just don't like using it too much.

Finally we get to the Barroth fight which was difficult for one major reason. I understand dual blades well, it's one of my best weapons, so that wasn't a problem at all. The two monsters idea was less difficult than I expected, I just had to make it obvious enough to be noticeable. The Barroth isn't exactly fresh in my mind, but it's simple enough to remember.

The problem was the damn name. You don't know how many times I've read over the fight checking to see if I accidentally wrote Barioth instead of Barroth. Seriously. It's a one letter difference. These two aren't similar at all, but they have such similar names that it's difficult to write about them. Especially now with Double Cross coming out next year, because now we have the return of the Barioth and the Barroth, which was confirmed in the same trailer. Their Japanese names are similar, but not that similar, did the Tri translation team just want me to burn?

So yeah… there's something. Gonna go reread the fight and this author's comments now.

Bye.


	5. The Arena (3)

Ben:

Height: 176 cm

Weapon type: Switch Axe

Preferred weapon: Demolition Axe

Armour: Barroth

Armour pigment: Red

Monster: Plesioth

Age: 22

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Brown

Hairstyle: Short, Tousled

Eye colour: Blue

Trivia: Really likes listening to Queen

* * *

Sean now had an idea of where he was. He was in the middle of the arena, the base camp of the arena to his left. The Astalos was to his right. While it was on the other side of the arena, judging from its speed and aggression it wouldn't stay there long.

This worked out for Sean. The gunlance, despite his its name, wasn't exactly a good weapon for range, so he no intention of keeping his distance, assuming he could against the hyperactive wyvern. If he could keep his back to the wall, then he wouldn't be at any risk of the Astalos escaping his line of sight.

The only problem he was facing was when he could heal and sharpen. He had been given a shock trap, but he assumed that the Astalos was similar to other electric wyverns and that this would only power him up.

The Astalos took off the ground, flying forward at an incredible speed.

Sean snapped out of his thoughts and faced his weapon forwards.

As cricket-esque wyvern neared, he shelled it three times before raising his shield.

The impact of the attack was strongly felt, Sean being pushed back, but he managed to hang on.

When the Astalos pulled back to try and give itself some space to attack, Sean quickly thrusted forward into its stomach and fired. He repeated the action before the Astalos was able to get away.

Infuriated by the damage he had received, the Astalos roared. Sean covered his ears to block the noise. As he looked back up, he saw the Astalos charging up.

Before he could react the Astalos' horn increased in size due to the electricity.

"I thought it'd be able to, guess I shouldn't use the shock trap. Still… Now I really don't have a chance of escaping it for a while, I should hold off on shelling and preserve sharpness…"

The Astalos flew at Sean again.

Recognising that the attack currently being performed was probably going to be bad for his health in the long run, Sean dodged the attack.

However, now he had been forced away from the wall and was in the open.

Not bothering to stop, the Astalos charged at Sean.

Sean dodged this attack and charged forward, this time managing to hit the Astalos in the leg.

He attacked its stomach next, hitting it twice.

The Astalos swung around and Sean tried to raise his shield to block, but was thrown backwards.

He managed to find his footing instead of falling and looked forwards.

The Astalos had shot out balls of electricity and was sending them towards Sean.

The intention had been to take him by surprise from what Sean could tell, but the first round was easily dodged.

Sean anticipated the second two attacks, but saw the Astalos charging him again.

He dodged the charge, only to be struck from behind.

"Shit… not bad…" He thought, having been hit by one of the electricity balls.

He was only stunned momentarily, but that was enough. The Astalos easily connected with a swipe, sending him flying.

Sean painfully crashed into the ground, bouncing off of it a few times.

He struggled to his feet to see the Astalos charging again.

"Shit…" He thought "I can't dodge right now, I can't block, I can barely move… I could throw a flash bomb… No… it's head is pointed downwards, it wouldn't see it unless I rolled it underneath, but if I was close enough for that I'd be hit by the time the flash bomb went off… I can't heal either, this hit will probably do more damage than I can recover to take. Wait a minute… If this thing's like the Zinogre, then it can probably increase its charge some more, so if I use a shock trap it'll be stuck in place for a little while before it charges up… So I could use that time, even if I'm putting myself of more damage later… Oh screw it, as if I have another choice!"

He placed down the shock trap before backing off as much as he could to drink a potion.

He was mid way through his drink when the Astalos hit the trap.

He expected to see the Astalos stop in place, but instead of that the Astalos' electrical charge completely disappeared.

Sean almost spat the potion out in surprise, but managed to stop himself from wasting time for the sake of comedy. While many great things are sacrificed for comedy, including sleep and a functional social life, Sean's money would not be one of them.

"Well um… I mean… Okay… That uh… That went pretty well…"

Sean had now drunk the potion and was feeling a lot better about his life in general. He had also managed to sharpen his weapon. Things were looking pretty good.

The Astalos tried to recharge, but was out of battery.

He was still plenty mad, though.

The Astalos resorted to its earlier tactic of jabs and did so, but this time they were easily read and blocked.

The Astalos span around, his tail hitting the shield.

However, the tail was also stabbed.

But, unfazed by this pain, the Astalos swung around again to face Sean and tried to charge.

The attack missed and the Astalos was in confusion.

He looked back only to have a flash bomb bounce of his face.

The Astalos tried to dodge but was stunned by this.

Confused, he randomly struck out, an attack managed to connect with a shield on his left.

He pushed all of his attacks in that direction only to find nothing.

The Astalos was unsure of what to do, but what it did know was that the air to his right felt incredibly warm.

The right half of the Astalos' face was burned off by a wyvern's fire.

His horn was completely incinerated by the fire, but somehow he just managed to hang onto living.

He concentrated the charge to the wings, flying towards the source of the attack.

Sean's gunlance had overheated, so now shelling was out of the question.

Still, Sean could use the lance.

The Astalos was unable to focus properly, so its attacks, despite being devastating were off slightly. Some did end up connecting, but they weren't intended. The best idea it could get was from the most recent connecting attack from either side.

Eventually it felt a weight on its back, but only momentarily.

The Astalos assumed that Sean had jumped, confirmed from the shape he could see above his head.

Sean fell downwards with his lance pointed forwards.

The Astalos couldn't block, only turn to face the strike. It condensed as much charge as it could into the remains of its horn.

Sean's strike hit the electricity, but through sheer force and gravity he was able to force his way through, though he did take a fair amount of damage.

The strike burrowed into the Astalos' head, finishing it instantly.

Sean got to his feet and walked off, a little unsteady due to the final attack

 **Seventh fight, Sean vs The Astalos. Cleared.**

* * *

Zach had chosen a charge blade for his fight.

He was in the slayground.

As he walked in he heard a noise above him.

He looked up and saw nothing. He looked back and saw nothing.

He looked forward again and saw the Nescrylla in front of him, upside down, its jaws ready to close around Zach, a move that would at best poison him and at worst bisect him.

"Huh… what are the chances." Zach thought before diving away.

He got up to see the Nerscylla swinging towards him.

Zach rolled to the left as the Nerscylla flew past.

Taking this chance to attack, Zach unsheathed his weapon.

A few attacks connected, but the arachnid quickly scuttled away.

When it was far away enough it shot out webs.

Zach ended up getting caught in one of these.

He was confused as to what to do for a few seconds before realising that trying to work it out wouldn't really help in the short term and dodging the Nerscylla pulling itself directly towards him.

Unfortunately, Zach was unable to completely dodge this attack and ended up getting hit by it. Luckily though, it did remove the webbing.

Zach once again started attacking. He got in a few slashes before dodging back due to the Nerscylla swinging its legs around.

The Nescrylla jumped up onto the net above Zach.

It started dripping down poison and grabbed forwards but found it hit nothing.

It then heard laughter above it and looked up to see Zach pointing and laughing from on top of the net.

It then swung around and brought out its jaws, closing them on Zach.

"Oh shit." Zach thought before getting caught by this attack and poisoned.

The Nescrylla then jumped backwards and shot out a web.

This caught Zach and made him unable to move his arms, but failed to catch him anywhere else.

"...Okay… well maybe I can use cleanser I don't have cleanser okay yeah then I'm gonna fail. Wait a minute… what if I… yeah!"

Zach had never fought a Nerscylla before. So he assumed that it worked like snow or mud and he needed cleansers or to get hit. He didn't think to just thrash around. Luckily though, he hadn't been completely immobilised and could still move. He decided to use this to his advantage.

Zach then started running at the Nerscylla while wildly screaming.

The Nerscylla was intimidated by this display and backed off.

Zach continued running at it screaming while the Nerscylla still felt intimidated.

"This isn't working…" Zach thought "If this keeps up much longer I'll pass out… I need to change my tactics!"

Zach then flopped to the ground.

"Help I have fallen and cannot get up." He said, not moving.

The Nerscylla moved forward slightly to try and study whatever it was like at, before ultimately deciding that it just wasn't worth and walked off.

"NO! COME BACK!" Zach yelled at it "I SERIOUSLY CAN'T GET UP I DON'T HAVE USAGE OF MY ARMS."

The Nerscylla turned around to look at him. It then turned back and started to go faster.

"DO NOT AVERT YOUR GAZE!" Zach yelled one last time.

Zach was now stuck in place.

"I only have one way out. There's no turning back now." He thought with utmost seriousness.

Zach then began aggressively rolling at the Nerscylla.

The Nerscylla turned its head again to see a man in his twenties rolling across the ground with an incredibly serious expression.

The Nerscylla was then hit by the rolling man.

In anger it lashed out with its legs, hitting the webs and destroying them.

Zach was then excited due to his plan succeeded and jumped to his feet to drink an antidote, but was interrupted by the Nescrylla ramming into him at incredibly high speed.

Zach was now low on health due to the poison and the attacks, so he had a choice.

He could drink a potion to recover health in case the Nerscylla attacked again but lose some of the health recovered to the poison, or he could drink an antidote and hope that the Nerscylla doesn't attack again.

Zach decided that it was most important to get rid of the poison and drank an antidote.

The Nerscylla tried to hit him again, but the attack was dodged.

The Nerscylla continued to try attacking and it was clear that it wouldn't back off.

"Which means that… my only chance is to attack."

Zach unsheathed his weapon.

The Nerscylla lighter attacks could be easily attacks, but its full body weight was out of the question.

Zach performed a round slash, but it bounced off.

"Huh, looks like it's time for the end." He thought, loading in five phials.

He quickly changed to axe mode.

Zach began to slash at the Temnoceran.

He finished it off with a super burst, bringing it crashing through the net and onto the ground.

He landed unsteadily but managed to remain standing.

* * *

 **Eighth fight, Zach vs the Nerscylla. Cleared.**

Finally, Joseph was up. He had chosen to go with the bow, much to Zach's booing, to which he yelled that he didn't want his life at risk.

Joseph felt an incredible pressure.

"Godamnit…" He thought "This is the last fight for today… I can't screw up… My image would never recover…"

He looked over to see a Seltas and a Seltas Queen.

"Why… Why do I have to fight two?" He thought.

He then recognised something "Wait a minute… these are the two same monsters from earlier today. Oh, cool! That means that they should be weaken- wait they destroyed that guy. Oh shit."

Joseph slowly sinking into despair was interrupted by the Seltas charging at him.

Joseph dodged him and pulled out his bow. He shot off an arrow which missed as the Seltas flew around to face Joseph.

He outstretched his forelimbs and swung at Joseph.

Joseph managed to hop over the swing and shot off an arrow as he landed, this time connecting with the Seltas' face.

The Seltas didn't stop, though and continued to attack.

Joseph was surprised by this, having expected the Seltas to pull back from pain.

The Seltas took advantage of this confusion to swing his forelimbs at Joseph again, knocking him back.

He then hit Joseph with a green glob, weakening him.

Joseph got up to see the Seltas Queen charging him.

Luckily for Joseph, the Seltas Queen was a fair amount slower than her partner, so he was easily able to get out of the way.

He turned to face the Seltas once again.

"This Seltas might be faster, but I'm assuming that he'll be a hell of a lot more frail. So I should prioritise taking him out first, the queen'll be easily picked off afterwards."

Joseph shot arrows into the air.

Some hit the Seltas but most were dodged.

His stamina having recovered in the time it took for the attack to finish, Joseph ran forward and fired off some arrows.

Three, to be exact.

The first missed, the other two connected.

The Seltas flew away, unfazed.

He swooped through twice.

The first time it nearly connected, but the second missed due to Joseph understanding his tactics.

The Seltas now closed in.

As he did it swung his forelimbs at Joseph.

Joseph jumped backwards to dodge the swing.

The Seltas continued pushing Joseph, not giving him a chance to attack.

Joseph assumed that he would be able to attack once the Seltas tired, and sure enough that happened.

Joseph readied an arrow and was about to fire, but as he did he saw a shadow loom over him.

He saw the Seltas Queen raising up on her back legs.

"What? How the hell did I not hear this thing move!? Wait a minute… Ah, I get it. The Queen didn't move at all!"

The Seltas had repeatedly tried to attack Joseph. However, this attacks were never meant to connect in the first place. If the Seltas wanted to deal damage, he would've first weakened Joseph and then put everything into attacking in that opening. The Seltas' intention was to move Joseph across the arena. Joseph's focus was entirely on reacting and avoiding the Seltas' attacks. He had no form of awareness of his positioning. This easily allowed the Seltas to move him closer to the intended attacker. Now that Joseph's stamina was depleted from the dodges and his attempted attack, he couldn't escape from the following attack.

"Still though…" Joseph thought "There's something that I don't get. I've thought a few Seltas before, though never with a queen, but those Seltas didn't display nearly the level of planning that this one did. I'd assume that it's orders from the queen, but how were they able to pull off a plan like this without any communication? Even a Rathian and Rathalos duo can't do shit like this!"

Joseph's thoughts were interrupted by the Seltas Queen's attack. Her upper body slammed into the ground, causing tremors.

Joseph couldn't move.

Not letting him escape, the Seltas Queen swung around with her tail.

"Huh?" Joseph thought "The Seltas won't be able to dodge in time either!"

Sure enough, as Joseph expected, the Seltas was also battered by this swing.

Joseph was thrown away.

He landed with a crash.

He looked up to see the Seltas Queen ready to grab him.

Joseph was lifted up into the air by the Seltas Queen's tail.

He struggled to get out, but to no avail.

"Shit… I can't let the fight end here...! This chapter's… not at... three thousand words yet!"

Joseph managed to grab an arrow and tried to stab at the Seltas Queen's tail.

The arrow was deflected and bounced off.

It clattered onto the ground a few meters away.

"Huh… So it really is over, then…" Joseph remarked in his thoughts, remembering what had happened to the other hunter way back in chapter 3.

At least, he thought that was going to happen, until he saw a giant crab crawl out of the ground.

* * *

"Daimyo!?" Joseph thought, before Daimyo shot off a pressurised water jet at the Seltas Queen's tail, making her flinch and drop Joseph.

Joseph was still surprised by this, but saw the Seltas flying straight towards Daimyo.

Joseph, moving at fast as he could, loaded in an arrow and fired it at the Seltas.

It connected, knocking the Seltas over.

While the Seltas was toppled, Joseph ran over to Daimyo.

"Thanks, Daimyo!" He yelled, before turning to the fight "I'm not sure how you got here, but I'll take it anyways. I'll try to fight the Seltas Queen, you keep the Seltas distracted for the minute, got it?"

Daimyo started to hit the Seltas while he was down.

"Good!"

As a side note, Daimyo had just gotten in by digging. The ground can easily be broken through, it's just that monsters are typically unfamiliar with the arena they find themselves in and don't think to try escaping this way. If they do get out, there are guards ready for them. Guards with big guns. Daimyo got past them with his amazing hiding skills.

Joseph ran towards the Seltas Queen.

He shot off scatter shots.

Luckily, the Seltas Queen was a really big target. A really slow, big target. Much more than the Seltas.

Joseph was able to dodge at a much more relaxed pace than before.

The Seltas Queen got ready to swing her tail around.

Joseph was confident that he could just perform two backhops to get out of the way.

However, when he backhopped he landed on his arrow from earlier and tripped on it.

He started falling to the ground and got hit by the tail mid fall.

He was sent flying a few metres.

Daimyo was keeping the Seltas back, but as soon as Joseph was hit away the Seltas got up. A water jet was shot in front of him. Daimyo expected him to stop, but the Seltas continued through, despite having his horn broken and receiving a fair amount of damage.

It hurried to the Seltas Queen and the Seltas Queen grabbed him with her tail.

Joseph was confused as to what was going on, but the Seltas offered no resistance. The Seltas was pulled onto the Seltas Queen's back, at which point his eyes began glowing.

The Seltas Queen and Seltas duo, now having become a Gurren Lagann reference, charged at Joseph.

Daimyo tried to run forward, but would be unable to reach them in time.

Joseph saw a switch off to the side. In multi-monster quests a wall could be raised to separate the two monsters. However, here both the monsters and Daimyo were on one side and Joseph was just on the other.

"Shit…" Joseph thought "If I could just reach the switch."

The Seltas Queen was already near, he wouldn't be able to get up in time to get away.

"Wait… I got it!"

Joseph pulled out his bow and drew it back.

He fired off a single arrow.

The arrow wasn't intended for the Seltas Queen, there was no stopping her with an attack at this point.

But something that could stop her was an immovable object, there was no question about that, as she certainly wasn't an unstoppable force.

The arrow connected with the switch, raising the wall up in the middle of the arena.

The Seltas Queen crashed into it at full speed, unable to brake. The queen and soldier were both injured by this.

Joseph got to his feet and started to drink a potion, thinking of what to do next.

"So now I'm okay, but the problem is that Daimyo is trapped there alone for the minute. While I'm sure that he'll be able to hold out, this isn't exactly ideal… I can't let the time before the wall drops go to waste, I need to work out what's going on. Splitting up won't work anymore, it'll turn into a 2v2 no matter what we do… Still, what's up with that Seltas…? Even after receiving an attack from the queen herself, he didn't seem to care… No matter how much he might care about the queen, it's clear that she's the one benefitting the most from this. Even his horn's broken as a result wanting help with her opponent. Is he hypnotised or something? I think that be it, he wasn't even surprised when he was grabbed. ...Just you wait for me and Daimyo to team up against you again, you'll see that a parasitic relationship like yours can't beat one like ours!"

The gate was then pulled down "Huh, good timing."

Joseph ran forward and shot off an arrow.

It connected, flinching the Seltas Queen.

Joseph ran towards Daimyo and then jumped onto his back.

"LET'S GO!" Joseph yelled, already firing off arrows.

Daimyo scuttling forward at an incredibly high speed.

He rammed into the Seltas Queen with his left arm.

While this attack didn't do much, it made the Seltas a very easy target. Which was good because Joseph had just applied some power coating.

He hit the Seltas with arrows a few times, but the Seltas was able to retaliate with his forelimbs. While these would've connected with Joseph, Daimyo raised his right arm forwards to block the strikes.

Joseph then jumped forward from his position while the Seltas was pulling its forelimbs back from the strikes.

He first landed on the Seltas Queen, before kicking off of her head to properly reach the Seltas.

He slashed with his arrow, knocking the Seltas over and off of the queen's head.

It fell to ground.

In that moment Joseph and Daimyo both raced towards the Seltas and began attacking it while it was down.

He was down for a total of ten seconds before the Seltas Queen was able to stop them from killing him.

That was enough time though.

The Seltas was nearly dead and everyone there knew it.

But before this could be acted on by her opponents, the Seltas Queen acted on it.

She grabbed the Seltas with her tail.

Joseph and Daimyo both assumed they were going to combine again.

Instead, they became one.

By which I mean that the Seltas Queen ate the Seltas.

It was a fairly horrifying sight, really.

The Seltas and the Seltas Queen seemed to be the only ones unsurprised by it.

Now that the Seltas Queen was feeling a bit better after her meal, she let out a roar.

Normally at this point the Queen would've called in another Seltas and would've had a way better chance of winning, but not in the arena.

She charged forward.

Daimyo quickly scuttled out of the way of the attack by going to the right, Joseph jumping onto his back as he did.

Joseph shot off as many arrows as he could as the Seltas Queen moved around, Daimyo doing the same with pressurised water.

While it was certainly doing damage, there was no way of telling how effective it was against this refuelled damage sponge.

The Seltas Queen ran past them once more, but this time instead of charging away she turned to face them, her hind legs rising her up once again.

It was at that moment that Daimyo launched himself off the ground, shell pointed at the Seltas Queen, pressurised water sending him through the air.

The shell connected with the Seltas Queen, pushing her backwards as well piercing her chest area.

Daimyo was still pushing forward like an unstoppable crab train of death.

However, the Seltas Queen was starting to regain control of the situation.

It was at that moment that Joseph ran forward, holding two barrel bomb+s in his arms.

"Yeah!" He thought "This is just like the time when we fought a Jhen Mohran! We brought a load of barrel bombs, placed them on its back and kicked them! It dealt a load of damage to it!"

The barrel bombs went off with Joseph directly next to them, engulfing him in the explosion and sending him flying through the air.

"Ah yeah right… we also almost died…"

Joseph landed on the ground, both he and Daimyo had taken a lot of damage. Somehow, he was hanging onto his consciousness.

In the last seconds that he was awake, Joseph realised that he had lost the fight. Not because the Seltas Queen had survived it, but because he had been helped out by Daimyo, which, as established in Riko's fight, would result in disqualification.

"Fuck." Was his last thought before passing out.

 **Final fight, Joseph vs the Seltas Queen and the Seltas. Failed.**

* * *

In the end, after paying for enough potions to bring everyone up to as much health as possible and donating a large amount of the remaining winnings to the local police force for no reason in particular except for bribing them to drop their charges of attempted murder on Riko they were left with about 60 zeni.

Sean looked at the money they had been left with, as did everyone else.

There was a silence that generally read: "Let's never do this again."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah that was a bit of a long chapter.

The Astalos fight was more fun to write than I expected, though I really hope I'm not wrong on the whole shock trap thing. I know that it loses charge when it's charged, I just hope that it can't charge more than one thing.

Nescrylla fight faced a difficulty when at the end of the Seltas fight I remembered that webbed doesn't work like that. But I refused to scrap that fight because of the rolling part. So have that.

Seltas fight lasted about 1300 words longer than I expected it to. It was pretty much the first fight idea for this arc, so it's weird to think that something that I thought of as "two weeks away" six weeks ago has just been written.

On a non behind the scenes note, as I type this New Dangan Ronpa V3 has been released today and I've been half writing this and half watching that for a few hours now.

I only plan on watching the first trial, because I don't want to wait for at least half a year (I'm assuming that it'll be released on Steam at the same time it's released on PS4, if not then I might have to get one, but that's besides the point) to learn whether the "Kaede isn't the protagonist" theory is true or not.

Not gonna give my thoughts on all the characters, I'll probably do that after I play it, but so far I really like Gonta and Angie, which is making me sad because I know that there's no way that they can survive this, due to Gonta being dench and Angie being potentially mentally unstable (I can't understand Japanese, but I saw the demo translation, which has the introductions and she mentions sacrifices to God… so take that as you will)

That's gonna be it for this chapter, next chapter should be a bit more relaxed (probably).


	6. Interviews with Hunter Girls (also Guys)

Callum:

Height: 187 cm

Weapon type: Dual Blades

Preferred weapon: Deathsnarfs

Armour: Wroggi

Armour pigment: Blue

Monster: Greatest Jaggi

Age: 21

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Black

Hairstyle: Short

Eye colour: Brown

Trivia: Is the Batman.

* * *

A young woman started writing down on a piece of paper.

"Good morning, my name is Anastasia Petrou! Today, we're interviewing the rare monster taming hunters!"

"A group of hunters, currently nine, who officially haven't named their group as of yet, but are known for their somewhat incredible teamwork… with their monsters. However, they have reportedly been seen breaking the law with acts such as incredibly loud screaming, not paying debts, property destruction, bribery, murder, torture and incredibly loud screaming while trying to escape unpaid debts… well changing the subject… what I'm here for today is to learn about them and to spread the information about them. Are they the next step forward for the art of hunting, or just a step in the wrong direction! Let's find out! Because we're doing that! Right now! When this scene transitions! Waiting on that line! Come on! Please! I'm begging you here! My family have abandoned me and I'm starving! This making a lot of money is my last hope or else I'm ending it before hunger gets to me! Come o-"

* * *

"There we go."

The interviewer found her way around town, eventually finding a hunter with black hair. He had an Azure Rathalos following him around.

The interviewer managed to stop him, though she did have to use the last of her funds to convince him to stop.

* * *

" **Good morning, sir! Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?"**

"Ah, morning. I'm a hunter, Sean. Pleased to meet you. My preferred weapon is Heavy Bowgun. I also happen to be followed wherever I go by an Azure Rathalos, seven pawns and an obsessive stalker who has a Pink Rathian."

 **"Erm… Could you please tell us a bit about how you hunt alongside your Rathalos?"**

"Well, the typical strategy is to get onto Azure's back. Then I shoot the target. While he shoots fireballs at it and generally spams from the air. Then it dies. Works most of the time. Sometimes though we poison it. Then it dies better. Sometimes we fight things that can fly. So I stand on the ground in siege mode while Azure has fight in the sky. So far, we're at HR6, but we haven't run into anything that can match him in the air, I imagine that there's only a few monsters that can, outside out of Elder Dragon tier monsters."

" **Hmm… Any interesting stories to tell our viewers?"**

"Well there was this one time when we fought an Akantor. It took my left arm and my left eye before finally going down, it truly was a strong opponent."

 **"...You… You still have both of those things you claim to have lost."**

"Well yeah, obviously that's because I just made that up."

 **"..."**

"You want a real story? Pay up, I charge 100,000 per story, regardless of quality."

" **..."**

* * *

Anastasia then got up, realising that this battle had already been lost and walked away, trying to find the next hunter, hopefully one who was more normal and/or useful.

Anastasia eventually found her way to another hunter, who she identified as Riko, who didn't have a monster. But still the interviews must go on.

Anastasia started to converse with him "Could I have a minute of time to a-"

"Sorry, I already have a God." Riko replied, as he worshiped the almighty Konchu, so he could be spared from their wrath when their day of reckoning arrived and become a Konchu himself in the Kingdom of Konchu.

"No, I mean-"

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. You should join and become a child of the almighty Konchu."

"What, no. I want to ask you questions about being a hunter."

"Oh, right, okay then."

* * *

 **"So then, could you please state your name?"**

"The name's Riko, I'm a HR 6! I've hunted many great opponents, though obviously none as great as the almighty Konchu in the sky."

" **R-Right… Could you please tell us a little about your hunting career?"**

"Well I hunt with these 7 dudes, and some of them have monsters. I hit the monsters that aren't their monsters."

" **Do you work well together with the monsters at all?"**

"Well… no."

 **"...In what way?"**

"Well sometimes I'm trying to hit a monster but the monster will want to hit the monster also but the monster is too big for both me and the monster to hit so we are not happy about this as both of us can't hit the monster."

 **"I… See…"**

"I'm not done yet. When we disagree we have a showdown, where we have our backs to each other, take three steps forward and then on the call turn and shoot each other with a bowgun. I win each time, I don't really think I'd survive not winning."

" **I… Okay yeah that's fine."**

"But first, before you leave madam, would you spare me a minute of your time to talk about our lord and saviour Konchu?"

" **Ah be quiet, that joke will be dropped after this chapter."**

Riko tried to say something but was cut off by the line.

* * *

Next, Anastasia found a hunter with short black hair and a Great Jaggi.

She planned on interviewing him, knowing that he was part of the group of hunters, but there was something that was just so uninteresting about him that he seemed to repel any form of interest. Just from looking at him, she knew that he had nothing to his character other than his Jaggi. His development would be non-existent. While it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, he was nothing more than a cover. His Jaggi did seem interesting, but the uninterest somehow managed to drown the interest.

So she just kinda drifted off and found another hunter.

* * *

This time around she found a hunter with shorter brown hair. He had a Plesioth generally following him around.

" **Good morning, sir. Would you please tell us a bit about yourself?"**

"MY NAME IS BEN. I AM A HUNTER WHO MAINS SWITCH AXE."

 **"Why… Why are you shouting?"**

"I TURNED CAPS LOCK ON. ONCE YOU TURN CAPS LOCK ON THERE'S NO GOING BACK."

 **"Erm…"**

"WHAT? IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT MY CURRENT SITUATION! WELL THEN, GO ON! I'M WAITING! THERE ARE NO WRONG ANSWERS!"

" **You…"**

"I CAN DO WHAT, HMM!"

" **You can…"**

"HURRY THE HELL UP! STOP BEING SO NERVOUS! WHY ARE YOU NERVOUS! I MEAN YOU NO HARM!"

 **"You can turn it off by pressing the button again!"**

"WHAT!? ...Holy shit… I never realised… I have so many people I need to apologise to! What have I been doing with my life!?"

Ben then ran away, tears streaming down his face.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" He yelled, vanishing into the distance.

Anastasia was half-moved half-confused, but she continued onto the next hunter. He was a hunter with green hair and a Lagiacrus.

* * *

 **"Hello there sir, could you please tell us a bit about your job as a hunter."**

"Ah, good morning! My name is Anthony, I main Hammer. I also have a Lagiacrus, who is called Wave."

" **How do you two work together?"**

"Well I hit things. Wave also hits things. We both hit things. Stunning is quite useful. I do it with my hammer, Wave does it by hitting the monster a lot. I can't really ride on his back too often due to the electricity attacks, but when I do we get around fast. Lord of the seas and all that."

* * *

"Cool." Anastasia replied, walking off.

"WAIT A SEC! AREN'T YOU GONNA ASK ME ABOUT OTHER STUFF AND STUFF!?" Anthony yelled, losing both formal language and hope.

"Like what?" Anastasia asked, pulling an Asuka from End of Evangelion face.

"LIKE WAVE'S SCAR ON HIS TAIL!?"

"Do you know how he got it?"

"...Well… No. No not really."

"Bye."

Next, she found another hunter, this one didn't have a monster, but seemed at least somewhat normal.

* * *

" **Could you please state and tell us a little bit about your hunting?"**

"My name is Alexandra, I would prefer not to state my last name, I am a HR 6 who specialises in lances. I don't have a monster currently, but I'm looking out for one that I can fight beside."

 **"Can you tell us a little bit about your peers (because they sure won't)."**

"Well… there's Zach, who constantly tries to assume the role of group leader, no matter the situation he finds himself in… for better or for worse. Then there's Joseph, who has excellent teamwork with Daimyo, but it feels like he relies on Daimyo too much for his own good. Ben is confident, but doesn't seem to know his own limits. Callum seems physically as strong as the rest, but for some reason he lets himself drop his self-worth all the time. Riko seems to hunt for no reason other than he can, if that makes any sense. Anthony's a skilled, but less focused on efficiency and more on standing out. Sean is a good hunter, but doesn't understand preservation of life, he only seems to see monsters as more money. Alicia's good at getting the job done, but seems unfocused, like she has another goal. Just my general thought- wait where did you go?"

"As if any viewer these days would read a wall of text like that, they don't care, they need their information broken down individual chunks of exposition." Anastasia thought as she walked off.

* * *

Next, she found Joseph, who was taking a break at a cafe, despite the fact that he wasn't doing any work today.

She sat down opposite him, but didn't order anything.

"Um… if it isn't you… you… good old… you old so-and-so… sure has been a while, hasn't it… I remember that one time when…"

 **"You don't know me."**

"Yeah I was just realising."

" **So, anyways, can I ask you some questions?"**

"Sure."

 **"Could you please tell us about yourself and your hunting career?"**

"Well I'm a bow main who has a Daimyo Hermitaur, who I named Daimyo. He's pretty much my best friend. We work together well, I've had him since I was like… Well since I was about six-ish. So he's been there for everything, and I mean everything. I act as the weapon, while he's the shield. It works pretty well."

 **"Hmm… how does he get along with other monsters?"**

"Well… in terms of Zappy, Plessy and Sanchez, he gets along pretty well, they've had their monsters only a few years less than I have. He gets along with Wave surprisingly well, though he keeps his distance during hunts. I think he might be a little scared of the two Raths, just from how he stays away from them a lot of the time."

" **Hmm… Well… Last question… Are you a particularly big fan of maid cafes?"**

A girl with cat ears walked up to the table, carrying coffee. "Here you go, master."

Joseph paused, acknowledging the camera and the fact that what he said would most likely be put on the internet and if life really went wrong used against him in court.

"No." He unconvincingly lied, while the girl asked him if he wanted to take a picture.

Anastasia gave up and walked off.

* * *

Next, she found Zach, who was in a normal place that wouldn't be used as a joke setting.

She copy/pasted the introduction thing and they began conversationing.

"Well, I'm Zach and I mainly use Gunlance and have a Royal Ludroth called Zappy. I think I must've been hunting for about… three years now?"

 **"How do you hunt with your monster?"**

"Well Zappy takes away the monster's mobility and then while it can't move I hit it a lot. Though that's usually at the end of hunts, I shouldn't of started there. The common tactic for the start of hunts is to valiantly ride into battle on Zappy's back while shooting the monster, until I'm close enough to hit it and then I hit it until it dies."

" **Okay… well here's another question. Why is it that you hunt with a monster?"**

Zach smiled, as if deep in thought. His smile seemed content, like his life had lead up to this moment.

He suddenly stood up and posed dramatically.

"I NEEDUH A MONSTAH TO CLOBBAH DAT THERE KIRBEH"

* * *

It was at this moment that Ben jumped through the window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

"THAT'S WHAT WE DO BEST AT NME!" He yelled back.

Then Joseph jumped through the opposite window, injuring a fair few customers with glass shards.

"AND YOU BETTER GET IT WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!"

Then Callum jumped in, but that part of the song only had three people involved, so all he did was kill the mood.

Ben sighed dejectedly. "It's a shame, that was a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Wait, Ben?" Zach asked "You can talk normally again!?"

"Oh yeah," Ben replied "Turns out all I had to do was turn caps lock off."

"HOLY SHIT!" Joseph yelled "WE MUST CELEBRATE THIS!"

"Joseph… Didn't you just turn caps lock on…?" Callum pointed out.

"DON'T WORRY! I JUST HAVE TO TURN IT OFF! UM. WHAT. NO. STOP. BEN. HELP. HOW DO I TURN CAPS LOCK OFF."

Ben shrugged "I forgot."

Joseph then remained in caps lock themed despair until the four of them were arrested.

It would take him four days to realise that he was speaking and the concept of caps lock only applied to computers and that he was not a computer.

Anastasia meanwhile, had lost any and all faith in the intelligence of humans. On the other hand, she had worked out why almost all the important people in the world were wyverian.

* * *

She was very tired, but stumbled her way towards the last hunter.

This one had light pink hair, kinda Chiaki Nanami coloured, and a Pink Rathian.

"Hello madam…" Anastasia managed "Could I ask you some questions…?"

Alicia was instantly concerned "Hey, are you okay? You look like you've given up on living!"

"Yeah. Yeah that sounds about right… anyway questions…"

* * *

" **So then, as I've asked the other hunters in your group, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your hunting career?"**

"Wait, so have you gone around asking everyone? How did you find Sean, I've been looking for him all day."

" **That's besides the point could we just-"**

"What did you interview him about!?

" **The same thing I asked you and he just told me some story about an Akantor. Anyway-"**

"What!? An Akantor!? I've never heard or seen that one! We've known each other for years, why the hell did I never catch word of this! I'VE KNOWN HIM LONGER THAN HE'S KNOWN AZURE!"

" **Madam please, calm down, this is getting derailed. I just want to-"**

"YOU'RE PROBABLY IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AREN'T YOU! THAT'S THE ONLY LOGICAL CONCLUSION!"

" **How did you even- no. No, I am not in a relationship with this man."**

"I won't let you."

 **"?"**

* * *

Alicia then stood up and reloaded her gun.

There was a fair amount of struggling and screaming for a while.

Later, Alicia worked out that Anastasia wasn't lying.

She kinda felt bad as that could've helped her in her goal, but really this happened everytime she suspected a woman of being in a relationship with him.

Lying to herself that next time would be different, she left Anastasia to sleep with the fishes.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah there we go it's a chapter look at it take in all that chaptery goodness.

So yeah for some reason let's talk Monster Hunter Stories.

I mean… it's not too bad. Though it's certainly not great. Honestly I'm a little disappointed that they decided to go with Stories for the anime, because if this archive proves anything it's that a good story can be made out of base Monster Hunter

*cough* Lost Civilisation *cough* Hunter's Oath *cough* Sky Kings *cough* Other stuff that I haven't read yet *cough*

Damn I really coughed a lot. But outside of name dropping fics that are actually worth your time, even the characters aren't that great. So the felyne is nothing other than comic relief most the time, though that said I did enjoy his focus episode. The rest of the characters honestly don't have enough distinction or memorability. Also death seems to be far too glossed over in it, despite happening more than you'd think.

Example: Main dude finds out his parents were killed, starts yelling things excitedly a minute later.

Red dude's mum dies, but a day later he's over it.

Well, I'm gonna stop before I lose any enjoyment that I get from this show, but at least in the new episode a tsundere was shown, which is good because I'm a firm believer in the idea that Tsunderes can save the world.

Also Fire Emblem direct, while I don't have too much faith in Heroes, Warriors and Echoes look decent. Also unless a Monster Hunter gets announced the release date of FE15 is the day I'm buying a Switch.

Finally, the next update will be skipped due to my school deciding to have end of year exams at the start of the second term for some weird reason, so, not wanting to fail at life, I'm going to focus more on revision than this. New CFD will be uploaded because that's already finished, but the next DBA chapter isn't started because I'm writing a 300 word author's comments about the new Monster Hunter anime and why it isn't all that good.

See you then probably.


	7. Heaven's Mount: Home of the Frenzy Virus

Riko:

Height: 182cm

Weapon type: Great Sword

Preferred weapon: Tigrex Great Sword

Armour: Volvidon

Armour pigment: Purple

Monster: N/A

Age: 25

Place of origin: Jumbo Village

Hair colour: Brown

Hair style: Curly, short

Eye colour: Black

Trivia: Knows that defenestration is a word that exists.

* * *

Zach held up a quest paper.

"So today we're hunting a Zinogre in Heaven's Mount."

Joseph thought back to when they fought the Zinogre in Tanzia. They were about to fight a normal Zinogre.

"Huh, this'll be easy." Joseph thought.

Five hours later, Joseph was low on health and he and Daimyo were standing alone.

"Oh yeah right we never actually fought that Zinogre."

* * *

 **Nine minutes and 17 seconds earlier**

The nine hunters walked out of base camp and saw the rest of the mountain ahead, promising even greater heights to scale.

Not that they'd ever go there, the Zinogre was down on this level.

They ended up splitting into 3 groups of 3.

Joseph, Anthony and Zach went to check area 2.

Ben, Callum and Alexandra went to check area 5.

Sean, Alicia and Riko ended up getting on Rathalos to fly around and see if it could be spotted from there, Riko riding on the back of Azure.

The first three weren't really expecting to encounter the Zinogre, the only one who didn't have a weakness to electricity being Anthony, due to Lagiacrus and all that stuff.

They just figured that the others would send off the signal and they would get a fair bit of damage in while they took the long route around, so they could reap the rewards at the end of it without much trouble.

But then, they saw the Zinogre walk in at the other end of the arena.

"H-Hey… guys…" Anthony began "That's… that's the Zinogre isn't it?"

"No… what are you talking about… that can't be… right? Zinogre don't come down here… they're usually in area 5, 6, 7 or 8 from what I've heard… There's no way that that can be right, right!?" Joseph yelled in denial.

"We… we should've just stayed in base camp… shouldn't we?"

"Don't say that! We can't look weak ya know!? We'll get laughed at! We don't wanna become Callum, ya know!?"

Zach smirked slightly "Hmph, you're both mistaken." He announced "This isn't a Zinogre, this is an impostor!"

He then walked up to the Zinogre and began to pull at its face. He really tried his best, but to no result. This Zinogre was indeed, contrary to popular belief, a Zinogre.

"Ah, well it appears that I was wrong. Bye, guys. It was fun..." He said as the Zinogre surrounded itself with lightning, sending Zach flying away.

Next, Joseph drew his bow and attempted attacking.

The Zinogre did some form of ninja flip to get around the arrows fired at it and landed gracefully.

Joseph was kinda impressed, but he wasn't the one attacking next.

Instead that was the job of Daimyo.

Daimyo shot out pressurised water, which hit the Zinogre.

Didn't do much apart from push it backwards but I mean it's the thought that counts at the end of the day.

Especially as that wasn't the intention.

The Zinogre looked back and saw that both Joseph and Daimyo had vanished.

It tried to look around some more when suddenly it was rammed into by a Ludroth moving at incredibly high speeds.

Zappy had the Zinogre pinned to the ground. While his hold wouldn't exactly last, it was enough time for Joseph and Daimyo to run over, pick up Zach from where he had landed and start running away.

However, instead of getting free through brute force the Zinogre chose to use electricity.

Zappy was pushed back from this, taking a fair bit of damage.

Still, it was enough time for Daimyo to run over, Joseph to pick up Zach and then have the three of them run away.

The Zinogre started trying to attack them, but it was at that second that it got hammered.

Once again it tried to recover from Anthony's attack.

"That's not all, though! Here's a special attack that Wave has been working on for a while, now!"

Wave shot out a orb of electricity, followed by a few others.

They surrounded the Zinogre.

Five in total, four on the same level as the lightning wolf and one above it.

Some sparks flew between the orbs, before many did, connecting them with electricity.

These also hit the wolf on their way to each other.

 **Absolute Death Move: Five Orb Cage!**

Anthony smirked "Pretty cool, am I right?"

Joseph was kind of unimpressed "...How'd you get it to be in bold? What's up with all of those exclamation marks… Do you really need every word to start with a capital!"

"Shut it!" Anthony yelled "It's a cool move, isn't it!?"

"...Honestly it was kinda basic… like couldn't you just do that normally? What's with all the build-up? What did you even do? Shouldn't you be more involved?"

"DUDE! I NEED SOME KIND OF SPECIAL SHIT!"

"?"

"Think about it! Last arc, everyone got such cool fights! While they weren't all of the same quality they were at least memorable! I got the first damn fight! Characters that people don't care about always go first in tournament arcs, the tension always comes later! Not only that, but what was up with my fight's boring gimmick!? I was poisoned and didn't have antidotes, that was it! Everyone's been through that, all you need to do is heal until it goes away! The author can't even remember if I won or not, they can't be bothered to check either!"

Anthony was then distracted from his ranting long enough to notice the electric wolf powering up as a result of the electricity he had it with.

"Ah… I forgot… about that…"

Daimyo started walking away.

"Waitwaitwait!" Anthony yelled "Where the hell are you going!?"

Joseph turned around "Well… I wouldn't want to steal you screentime and I figure that since you powered it up, you should bring it down so…" He gave a thumbs up "Do your best!"

"You don't have any reason to try escaping, you're not injured at all! You just don't wanna fight this Zinogre, do you!?"

"Believe in the me that believes in you!"

"You're not Kamina!"

Joseph punched him in the face.

"Don't doubt yourself!"

"You're just trying to get me to stop doubting you!"

"Fine then…" Joseph turned around with Daimyo, who dropped Zach onto the ground with a loud thump "Let's go, Daimyo!"

Joseph shot out some arrows, all of which connected.

Daimyo launched himself off the ground and then turned around, swinging his claw forwards.

"GIGA DAIMYO BREAK!"

The punch connected with the Zinogre, knocking it back.

While Daimyo was flying through the air, Joseph launched arrows into the air, which landed on the Zinogre, adding extra damage to the already fairly damaging combo attack and hitting the Zinogre with enough force to push it down, crashing into the ground.

The Zinogre landed with a loud crash, splitting the ground around it and leaving a crater, a strong 7 on a scale of a small crater to post-saibaman Yamcha.

"Seriously?" Anthony asked "You're directly copying Gurren Lagann?"

"Shaddup!" Joseph yelled back "It's because of you that I have Kamina on the mind, ya know!? At least my special attack had me involved in it, what did you even do for yours!?"

"So it's come to this, has it!? My involvement in mine was great, it's just so subtle that your simple mind can't process it, you damn new world bumpkin! You see, while Wave's attacking, I-"

Anthony was then hit by the Zinogre, having recovered and enraged. Wave had also been taken down while they were too busy arguing to notice.

Joseph began to draw his weapon again, confidently smiling, but mid action he was hit with lightning and knocked backwards.

This was quite strong lightning and now he was low on health, standing alone with Daimyo.

Joseph and Daimyo then tried to tactically retreat, but both were instantly taken out by the Zinogre.

The Zinogre looked down at the two hunters and their monsters.

Had it any desire to, then it could've easily taken them out.

But instead, the Zinogre chose to simply leave. It sensed that there were others attempting to claim its territory.

* * *

Alexandra, Ben and Callum had found exactly 0 Zinogres in area 5 and were now in area 6.

They saw the Zinogre enter the arena, electricity sparking around it.

Alexandra and Callum both tensed up to fight, but at that point Ben had already began sprinting towards the Zinogre.

Ben swung his axe forwards, but this didn't work when the Zinogre jumped around the attack and hit him with a swipe powerful enough to slam him into the ground.

Ben then got back up, bleeding enough to make multiple blood donations. He began to plan his next move.

"Hmm… Well if attacking won't work, then maybe attacking will!"

This didn't work.

"Damnit! This thing's good, it appears that attacking isn't the answer here… what if… yeah… that could be it… I should try attacking!"

This didn't work.

"Heh, but that not working was all part of my plan. Now that I know that attacking won't work, this is the best time to attack!"

This didn't work.

"Huh… looks like it's over… even so, I've got one option left! That's right! Time to attack!"

Surprisingly enough this did work, however it was so comedically ineffective that it might well as not have worked in the first place.

The Zinogre then gently tapped Ben with such force that he collapsed on the spot.

After that comedic break to the serious fighting, Alexandra drew her lance once more, ready to fight, but noticed that this Callum was missing.

While this had been going on, Callum had climbed up and was now jumping at the Zinogre with his weapon drawn, while screaming that sounded vaguely like "FOR GLORY!".

He slashed at the Zinogre, but due to the Zinogre being high rank and a gathering hall monster, this didn't topple the Zinogre and just left Callum standing there kind of awkwardly next to a slightly more angered Zinogre.

He tried to climb back up again, but the Zinogre cut him off, leading to him running in the other direction and entering the crawlspace underneath one of the structures.

"Hmm… Well now I'll have the upper hand, at least. Once the Zinogre jumps to the entrance in an attempt to pursue me, I'll run to the other side, climb up and then jump at the Zinogre while it's trying to destroy the structure and topple it, leading to mounting it, toppling it again so we can hit it a lot. Yeah… let's g- wait where did the Zinogre go?"

While Callum, had been planning this, the Zinogre had jumped over from where it was to the top of the structure Callum was currently under. Since Zinogre's are kinda heavy, the structure collapsed underneath the weight of the Zinogre.

Callum was still inside of the structure while this happened, which wasn't that good for his health.

Sanchez managed to stop Callum from dying using a force field from a distance, but this was really tiring and he went home.

Plessy tried to attack but his low thunder resistance led to one hit before he grabbed Ben and hightailed it out of there, running like a majestic Plesioth on the wind.

Being the last one standing, Alexandra now finally had a chance to attack, after all this comedic relief procrastinating the actual fight.

But then, all of a sudden, as if on comedic timing, Riko fell out of the sky, the joke that fate had set up being that this was a subversion of what the scene originally appeared to be.

What had happened to set this up off camera was that the Zinogre had been spotted while circling the mountain.

Riko was unused to flying and figured that he should just directly engage the Zinogre.

What he forgot was that he flying on the back of Azure.

This led to him falling through the sky with no way of slowing himself down.

This worked better than he thought it would, as the weight of his body as well as the massive metal (?) Tigrex Great Sword on his back turned him into a sort of bullet using gravity.

A bullet that almost hit the Zinogre's back.

Had it done so, it could've potentially crippled the Zinogre at best, and at least done a lot of damage.

But it didn't and Riko hit the ground.

The ground hurts, especially at that speed.

Somehow though, Riko got up, despite some brain damage and a high chance of a fractured skull.

He swung at the Zinogre, which the Zinogre then moved around.

Riko then attacked again, this strike connecting.

The Zinogre flinched as this strike had connected with its head, but still pressed through the damage to swing its tail around and knocked Riko flying.

Riko hit the wall, but got back up and started running at the Zinogre again.

The Zinogre tried to swing its tail around, but Riko jumped over it, much to the surprise of the Zinogre and Alexandra who was just sitting at the side, waiting for her inevitable fight.

Riko swung his Great Sword downwards, connecting with the Zinogre's back and cutting into it.

This toppled the Zinogre and it crashed onto the ground.

He hit it with a lvl 3 strike, which caused a loud crash and a roar.

The Zinogre then swung onto its feet and brought its front paw crashing down, hitting Riko and pinning him to the ground. It then attacked him for a while before discarding him and throwing him into the wall.

Riko was now low on health.

"Shit… this could be the end. Before this thing takes me out…" He raised his weapon "I'll take myself out!"

"The hell is the point of that!?" Alexandra yelled from the sidelines "Just use a potion, that accomplishes nothing!"

Riko turned and gave a regretful smile "But… it looks cool."

Suddenly a voice appeared from nowhere.

"Stop, young man! Suicide is not the answer!"

It was Sean, ready to deliver an advertisement.

"No matter how bad life may seem, with things such as elder dragon attacks and unemployment, always remember that once you commit suicide, there's no going back! There have even been times in life where I've simply wanted to give up and die, but I stuck with it and look at me now, being paid good money to lie about having wanted to commit suicide! You can find out more by calling us at-"

"Sean." Alicia tried to grab his attention

"18-"

"Sean."

"00."

"Sean."

"...What is it?"

"He passed out midway through that."

"Oh… dammit…" He thought for a second before looking at Alexandra "Hey, would you mind being suicidal for a minute or two? I need to finish this sponsored advertisement!"

Alexandra was just kind of confused at this point.

Alexandra realised that if she let this stupidity go on any longer this would drag out forever and she just wanted to go home.

She charged at the Zinogre and the Zinogre tried to swipe with its tail, leading to her blocking the strike.

It was at that moment of hesitation in the fight that the Zinogre was suddenly hit with bullets from the side.

It flinched as a result of the pain and saw Alexandra begin to rush in, attempting to take advantage of the opening.

It then saw Alexandra immediately retreat at a high speed and was confused as to why until it got simultaneously hit with 2 fireballs.

The Zinogre was stunned by the pain momentarily but still managed to recover in time to dodge another hail of bullets.

The Zinogre saw Alexandra moving into attack again. It decided that the people with flying wyverns and guns posed more of a threat and chose to retreat to attack them.

First, it jumped at Alicia. Alicia tried to dodge out of the way but wasn't able to get entirely clear of the Zinogre in time, being hit by some lightning produced by the impact of the landing.

Alicia's Rathian took this chance to attack with a tail swipe, which connected, creating a wound on the Zinogre's arm.

In response the Zinogre increased the voltage of its charge and body slammed the Rathian.

For the uninformed, Pink Rathians, as well as being well as being weak to dragon (which this Zinogre didn't have, as it wasn't a Stygian), were weak to thunder (which this Zinogre did have, as it wasn't a Stygian).

However, after this attack was over, the Zinogre left itself open in terms of positioning.

For a few seconds, it was stuck unable to land.

This was enough time for Sean, having already entered siege mode, to fire a metric shitload of bullets at the Zinogre.

Well I mean, maybe not that many but still a lot.

Also Azure got a chance to shoot off some fireballs and Alicia was recovered enough to shoot in a crag shot.

The Zinogre did land, only to be slammed into the ground by a tail swipe from Azure.

Unfortunately, Alicia's Rathian had to retreat at this point due to its injuries, so Alicia decided to go with her.

While the Zinogre tried to stop them both, Sean managed to hit it with a clust shot from the side, drawing its attention to him.

The Zinogre howled, keeping Sean stuck in place. It then ran at him, Sean unable to dodge in time.

It connected with Sean, sending him flying backwards.

He coughed up some blood before collapsing, still conscious.

Azure tried to attack, but the Zinogre was too fast for the King of the Skies to keep up with at its current level of charge.

It grabbed the head of the Rathalos. It then slammed downwards with all the force it could, creating a crater on the ground.

The Zinogre then pulled up, ready to strike again, when Alexandra jumped in and jammed her lance into the Zinogre's side, toppling it.

The Zinogre quickly recovered and stood up again.

Now it was Alexandra's time to fight it.

The Zinogre pounced forward, an attack that Alexandra stepped around.

She jabbed forward, piercing the side of the fanged wyvern.

The Zinogre swung its entire body around. Recognising that she once again couldn't block this, Alexandra hopped backwards, clear of the Zinogre.

The Zinogre tried to strike with its paws, but these were blocked.

Three attacks in total before the Zinogre changed its tactics.

Alexandra used the Zinogre's time to think as a chance to attack, charging in and attacking twice before pulling out as the Zinogre reacted to the attack.

The fight went on in a similar way for at least five minutes.

During this time Sean and Azure had also decided that to pull out of the battle to heal.

The two opponents were both tired. While they were hesitating, Alexandra noticed something. There was a scar on the Zinogre's neck. It was healed, but still left a mark. The wound almost seemed to be infected, despite its age.

Suddenly, the Zinogre ran off.

Alexandra could've gotten everybody from base camp and come to finish it. But instead, she chose to go back down the mountain.

When asked why she simply replied with "There's something I want to discuss with the Guild."

* * *

She approached Cathar's quest counter and asked to talk to village's Guild Master.

He was an elderly Wyverian, but for some reason, he still seemed to have a fierce glare about him.

"So… What did you call me to talk about?"

"That Zinogre that I went to hunt earlier today, I would like to remove the hunting order on it."

"Oh?" The Guild Master replied, seemingly surprised "I'm afraid that there's no way that it can avoid being hunted. If you remember the quest description, it has been running through the mountain trying to claim it as it's own by disrupting the other monsters on the mountain and even settlements like ours."

"It wasn't doing this out of any malicious intent. Allow me to explain. It is common for Zinogre to travel in packs, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"The only reason that this Zinogre would have to travel alone is either that it was forced away from its pack somehow. I think I might've worked out why. The sanctuary on the upper parts of the mountain is the place where Gore Magala come to mature into Shagaru Magala, which are capable of infecting other monsters with the frenzy virus. From what I can tell, Zinogre packs typically live on the upper parts of the mountain. So if a Shagaru Magala were to arrive there, then it would destroy them."

"While I do understand your theory, that couldn't be correct. The Zinogre only spend the summer season near the sanctuary at the top of the mountain. Gore Magala arrive about midway through Winter. By the time the Gores begin to arrive, the Zinogre are long gone. Only particularly bad incidents of frenzy virus reach them."

"But, what if a Gore Magala was to reach the sanctuary early and mature then? Since the Zinogre wouldn't have left, they would be among the first infected by the virus."

"I see… but what's your evidence for this?"

"Have you ever seen a scar left by a Magala or a frenzied monster?"

"Yes, the wound constantly appears as a result of the frenzy virus."

"Well… I saw that same type of wound, on the neck of the Zinogre that I fought on the mountain!"

"I see…"

"So this is what I believe happened:"

 **It all began when the Gore Magala arrived at the sanctuary earlier than expected. It spread the frenzy virus due to this maturity. While normally, smaller monsters would be infected first and the Guild would send hunters to deal with the problem before it reached larger threats, the Guild had no involvement. To make this worse, larger monsters were among the first infected due to the Gore having arrived early. This infected a Zinogre pack. From here it's uncertain what happened, but the Zinogre we're focused on survived the virus. It then moved down the mountain and started attacking other monsters. My guess as to why it did this was to claim territory for itself, as a reaction to having its previous territory taken away by the Elder Dragon.**

"Hmm… that does seem correct… but there's one thing that you missed. Try to think of what effect the frenzy virus has on monsters and hunters."

"It makes them incredibly violent, to the point where all they can do is attack. If they don't attack enough, then they'll be at a strong risk of death. If they do attack enough they'll briefly become stronger before the virus passes over."

Alexandra realised something.

"Yes…" The Guildmaster answered "It's very likely that the reason why this Zinogre has no pack… is because it killed many of them. Even with that, are you sure that this Zinogre is no threat? Even if it isn't remember that Zinogre are very social monsters. They care for other members of their pack, so think about how much pain the Zinogre must be feeling. Are you sure that it wouldn't be better to kill the Zinogre and end it's suffering, as an act of mercy?"

There was a silence as Alexandra hesitated, thinking about this.

"Well… I'll leave that decision to you, as you're the one who offered it. I need to contact the Guild and get them to send hunters to deal with this Shagaru Magala problem we're having. Thank you very much for your information on that, by the way, you will be rewarded for it soon enough."

The Guildmaster walked off, seeming almost casual after everything that had just been uncovered.

* * *

Alexandra walked up the mountain, approaching the cave that the Zinogre was resting in.

She walked up to it, from what she could tell it was asleep.

She rose her lance into the air, when she noticed something.

The Zinogre's eyes were wide open, watching her movement.

It was wounded, but it would've still been able to move.

Alexandra lowered her weapon. Had the Zinogre had any hostile intent it would've struck then, but it chose to remain in place.

She paused, thinking of what to say.

"I think… I've worked out why you're doing this. It must hurt, mustn't it, to be without the people you care about. I think that… I can relate to it, to an extent. You don't want to do anything, then suddenly you're angry, then suddenly you're depressed again, then whatever happens next is up to you."

She paused once again.

"So… you have a choice now… I can kill you here… if not, two things could happen. The hunter's guild will send in strong hunters to deal with that Shagaru at the top of the mountain and while they're here they'll probably hunt you down, at which point you'll be turned into some armour or a weapon or just disregarded in an item box. Or… you can come with me and get strong for all those people that you lost on the way."

Alexandra stayed there for a few minutes. Then she got up and left.

She walked towards base camp to descend the mountain when finally she saw the Zinogre running towards her.

She braced for combat slightly, but it didn't attack.

There was another silence, before both of them descended the mountain together, ready to put whatever happened in their pasts behind them and become stronger because of it.

* * *

"So yeah," Alexandra continued "I decided to call her Zino, in the end."

"Original name." Joseph commented.

"You named Daimyo after the first word of his species' name."

"You don't know that."

The Guild Master suddenly appeared.

"One thing you should know. Since you're taking ownership of this Zinogre, that means that you'll have to pay for the damages it's caused."

"Okay, well that shouldn't be too bad."

"Factoring in the damage to both wildlife and our village, the total is…" He was now using a calculator.

"243'354'917 zeni."

There was a long silence until Sean pulled out his bowgun murmuring "Let's just kill this thing."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah that was a bit of a long chapter. I'm not gonna say too much here, seeing as how this ran on longer than the first chapter.

Well I'm back, I don't think exams went that horribly (haven't got most results, but an A on my photography mock so there you go, now I just have to not fail the real one).

Though one thing I do wanna mention for this chapter is that the virus here works slightly differently in monsters than it does in the games, as it mirrors the way hunters react. So I just thought that I should mention that to clear up any potential confusion.

So I mean yeah see you next chapter I guess. That'll have more of an author's notes probably.


	8. An Eternal Struggle

Alexandra:

Height: 170 cm

Weapon type: Lance

Preferred weapon: Black Gravios Spear

Armour: Tetsucabra

Armour pigment: White

Monster: Zinogre

Age: 24

Place of origin: Dundorma

Hair colour: Black

Hairstyle: Short, cropped

Eye colour: Green

Trivia: Preferred the TV ending of Evangelion to The End of Evangelion.

* * *

Zach held up a quest paper "This time around it's two Zamtrios in the Frozen Seaway."

The ship arrived at the base camp and they forced off of it.

Joseph sat down "...Y'know, Daimyo's not that strong in icy environments so I think I'll just wa-"

Sean interrupted "Daimyo doesn't require heat to stay alive. You can just pour a hot drink on him and he'll be fine."

Joseph looked at Sean. Then walked over to the bed and tried to climb onto it.

Sean grabbed him and Azure grabbed Daimyo before everyone set off into the hunting grounds.

Despite Joseph's attempts to struggle out he was unable to escape.

"What's all this about? He did it when we were in the Tundra, too." Ben suddenly appeared behind him and answered him, taking Anthony by surprise "He doesn't really like snowy areas that much, you should see why soon."

* * *

They walked into area 2, at which point Joseph and Daimyo were both dropped onto the ground as there was a Zamtrios in need of some of that there hunting present in the area.

Before anyone could do anything, Alexandra and Zino raced forward, eager to get in some practice for hunting as a team.

First, Alexandra jumped back as Zino leapt into the air.

Zino slammed her front left paw downwards on the head of the Zamtrios, attempting to slam it into the ground.

The Zamtrios, while caught off guard, was able to block the attack by simply being a lot heavier than Zino was.

Zino was forced to retreat on her attack and replan, but while the Zamtrios was distracted with observing this unexplained threat Alexandra ran in from the other side, unnoticed until the last second and pierced the side of the Zamtrios.

The Zamtrios, now realising that it was dealing with a threat on both sides tried to spin around in an attempt to get rid of the attackers.

Upon doing this, it was bombarded with bullets and fireballs, which surprised it, as it had forgotten about the other hunters present.

It kind of flopped around for a while, while getting attacked, until it finally remembered that it has other forms.

The Zamtrios inflated itself, becoming Fat Zamtrios, the next stage of evolution.

It then jumped around, managing to stop everyone from moving with tremors.

Except Riko, who had tremor res, the Raths, who were flying with their hunters on their backs and Sanchez who is immune to all damage.

The Zamtrios was then damaged some more.

Refusing to give in and die, the Zamtrios deflated and became enraged, creating ice armour.

It was then hit by a Plesioth's hip check shattering the armour to pieces for the most part.

The Zamtrios, in a last ditch attempt to do some damage guessed the most vulnerable member of the group and lunged at them.

In this case it was Joseph, who was worriedly looking around back and forth, as was Daimyo.

The Zamtrios jumped at him mouth wide open. It looked like it was about to pin him. By that I mean try to eat him. That's how Zamtrios pin people for some reason, it's an amphibian thing.

But before it could Joseph and Daimyo both scattered.

Before he moved though, Daimyo chucked Joseph into the air, to the point where he was well above the Zamtrios. He then burrowed into the ground.

Joseph shot down arrows at the Zamtrios, before landing and shooting a volley into the air, which rained down.

Not only that, but some of the arrows hit the ground next to the Zamtrios.

Using this noise to navigate through the Earth, Daimyo moved to the spot where he heard the noise and jumped upwards.

This was slightly off center, but was still close enough to launch the Zamtrios into the air.

Still pumped up with adrenaline, Joseph climbed onto Daimyo's back again.

The Zamtrios had now hit the ground, so Daimyo rammed into it and Joseph hit it with arrows for as long as his stamina lasted.

By this point both were tired, but still Daimyo was able to make one last almighty punch which killed the Zamtrios.

Joseph was breathing rapidly, looking metal as shit.

* * *

Anthony was once again confused "...The fuck was he scared about?"

Ben then teleported behind him again somehow "YOU'LL SEE."

Anthony's response this time was to swing around with his hammer, but he only hit air.

He heard a voice behind him again "You are too slow, for I have already won."

He turned again and saw Ben walking off. Anthony didn't really know what just happened or what it meant, but he couldn't deny that it did happen and nothing that he could possibly do could change that.

* * *

Alicia looked at the Zamtrios corpse "Huh… that was fast. Guess this is why we always have to split up."

It didn't appear that the other Zamtrios was nearby, judging from how it wasn't there, so they decided to continue looking for it in different areas.

No longer looking like a post tank destruction Ling, Joseph and Daimyo were now back to being nervous.

Anthony was now confused again, but refused to say anything out of fear of summoning the teleporting man.

They walked into area 7, where they saw no Zamtrios.

They then headed into area 9, which had a Zamtrios.

However, upon sighting them it moved into area 3.

Then, behind them, _it_ appeared.

Joseph grimaced, entering a battle stance.

"So then, you've finally decided to show yourself, you goddamn monster?"

He drew his weapon.

In his heart he was afraid, but there was no more time for that now. He had to become strong.

Strong enough to take out the enemy approaching him.

He ran into battle to face the Lagombi.

* * *

Anthony turned to Ben to make sure that he couldn't teleport. "That's a Lagombi… isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"A normal Lagombi."

"Indeed."

"Why?"

"Allow me to explain: It all started the first time we went to a snowy area. Joseph tried to fight the first large monster we saw. Which was a Lagombi."

"And he lost?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know, neither does he. He just seems to have some kind of natural disadvantage against Lagombi."

"Of all the monsters he could struggle against, the one he struggles against is a Lagombi."

"Unfortunately yes."

Joseph interrupted, somehow hearing the conversation despite being several dozen metres away "But, I'm about to put that behind me. Now, watch as I take down this Lagombi, which has plagued my hunting career for the past 3 years!"

* * *

Joseph ran towards the Lagombi, at which point the Lagombi slid towards him. Despite the attack being easy to dodge, Joseph somehow failed to do so and was knocked into the air, at which point Daimyo caught him.

"Shit…" He monologued internally "This opponent is tough… Looks like I'll have to stake everything on this fight!"

He yelled to the others "Hurry! Go kill the Zamtrios. I'll hold this monster off!"

Alexandra interrupted "Um… Joseph… we could just leave it alone… I don't think it's much of a threat to be honest… even if we needed to it would be over in a matter of seconds…"

"Don't worry! We'll always be together!"

"Waitwaitwait! How the hell would you die from fighting a Lagombi!? Why are you saying that now!? Are you planning on dying to this Lagombi or something!? Have the difficulties of life finally gotten to you!?"

Sean interrupted with a loud "Yeah!"

Joseph then turned to fight the Lagombi, smiling confidently.

"Was playing along with his act entirely necessary?" Alexandra asked.

Sean replied "If there's anything I've learnt over the years, it's that if you can't straight man your way out play the funny man."

* * *

Joseph and Daimyo stared down their enemy as the others casually walked off.

The Lagombi was kind of distracted, staring at the air contentedly.

Joseph and Daimyo attempted to strike first.

Daimyo attempted to fire a beam of water at it.

The water didn't get far before freezing, turning to ice and crashing onto the ground.

This is because the Frozen Seaway is damn freezing and any liquid with a volume below whatever the ocean's volume is would freeze instantly.

Daimyo started randomly panicking, so Joseph tried firing arrows.

However, Daimyo moved around in circles when he panicked, so the arrows flew everywhere.

Joseph was now also panicking so he shot arrows everywhere.

Meanwhile the Lagombi had just discovered a new wall that it had never seen before and was going to investigate this new discovery. What it didn't realise is that it had already seen this wall before, it just had bad memory.

Joseph saw the Lagombi walking off.

"Heheh! So it's been intimidated by our superior power, huh!? Well, now that you're on the ropes, take this! Let's go, Daimyo!"

Daimyo focused and charged at the Lagombi.

He knocked it down, at which point Joseph shot arrows with power coating at the toppled rabbit.

He shot arrows at it, but the Lagombi got back up.

It spun around and knocked them both down.

Daimyo could've easily jumped over this, but in the heat of the moment he wasn't paying attention.

The Lagombi then took a swing at Joseph, knocking him off of Daimyo's back and flying into a wall.

He got up to see the Lagombi sliding towards him.

He stood back up and picked his weapon off of the ground, drawing it and getting ready to fight.

* * *

Joseph and Daimyo walked out of area 9, covered in blood, smiling victoriously.

"Ah," Zach commented "So it looks like you won."

"Yeah… it was a tough opponent and I took a lot of damage… but in the end, I was strong enough to overcome my foe-"

The Lagombi from earlier walked out, unharmed.

There was a long silence.

Joseph finally yelled "What's this!? A new Lagombi has appeared!?"

"J-Joseph? Is any of the blood on you and Daimyo the Lagombi's."

"Y-y-yes. Why'd you ask, hmm? Tryna say that I can't even do so much as harm a Lagombi!? That's seriously underestimating my skills as a hunter! I mean, who could lose this much blood and not damage the monster, am I right!? Only an unprofessional hunter would-"

"Joseph."

"it… was really strong. Like, you don't even know how strong! We're talking a solid power level of 18300-"

"Joseph."

Joseph was now silent.

"Anyways, come help us finish this Zamtrios. We've got it near death, not only that but it's tired."

* * *

The Zamtrios noticed the Lagombi.

The Lagombi turned to notice the Zamtrios.

The Zamtrios lunged at the Lagombi, inflating itself to make itself larger.

Despite the Lagombi's attempts to escape it was unable to dodge and was eaten.

There was some noises of crunching until eventually the Zamtrios seemed to no longer be hungry.

The Zamtrios roared, now in rage mode after eating.

Riko rushed forward to attack, but was interrupted by Joseph flying in with a dropkick to the face, sending Riko flying away.

Everyone was confused and Riko was in pain, until Joseph yelled "I'm not gonna let any of yas hunt this Zamtrios!"

This did end the confusion, but didn't really do anything for Riko's pain.

* * *

Callum then tried to attack, but was hit with a blast of the water from the sidelines.

Daimyo then scuttled to where Joseph was standing and Joseph stood on his back to make himself look taller.

"Why though?" Zach asked.

"It's simple. This Zamtrios just easily ate and killed a Lagombi. It required no effort. Which means that if we just stop hunting Zamtrios, eventually they'll kill all of the Lagombi. So I forbid the hunting of any more Zamtrios and will protect them with my life!"

"Okay… you do realise that if you do that, everything will be damaged. Not only will you be single handedly responsible for the extinction of a species of monster, which could land you the death penalty, assuming that you hadn't already been persecuted for hunting monsters without the Guild's permission, the Zamtrios will no longer have any Lagombi to eat, meaning that many will starve and some will definitely resort to cannibalism." Alexandra pointed out.

Anthony then added "Also you seem to be forgetting how you just murdered one brutally."

Finally, Sean spoke "Not only that, but we have to kill this Zamtrios, or else we're not getting paid."

Joseph was in thought for a second "Even so, I… Even so, I choose to believe that a miracle will happen! THE MIRACLE OF ZAMTRIOS ANNIHILATING THE LAGOMBI!"

The Zamtrios seemed to understand what was going on and now appeared to be teaming up with Joseph.

Ben then charged forward.

"Whatever, we'll just have to kill the Zamtrios! That should discourage him!"

"AS IF I'D LET YOU!" Joseph screamed, firing off an arrow.

This missed and Joseph decided to throw his entire body weight at Ben, which worked slightly but not enough, so Daimyo threw his entire body weight at Ben, crushing the other two in the process.

Ben somehow managed to grin "Just as planned! Do it, Plessy!"

Plessy then used a hipcheck.

Plessy was several dozen metres away, but the hipcheck still connecting, causing major damage to the Zamtrios and toppling it.

Callum then tried to rush in, but at that point Daimyo had already recovered and jumped at it, knocking him down.

Sanchez saved Callum from being killed, but was now kinda tired and couldn't be bothered to do much.

Alicia attempted to fly in to attack on the back of her Rathian, but was quickly taken down by Joseph, as flying units have a weakness to archers.

Though Joseph getting up to use his bow had freed Ben, who attempted to tackle Joseph from behind.

It was at that moment that Daimyo fired off a beam of pressurised water, which froze pretty much instantly.

But it did fly far enough to be caught by Joseph as a handy weapon, which he turned around and hit Ben in the face with.

Ben then collapsed to the ground, bleeding.

* * *

The Zamtrios got up and roared.

It walked over to where Joseph was, and roared again.

It then walked over to Zach and sat, it's guard lowered

"I… see…" Zach thought "It doesn't want us to continue fighting! It would rather die than cause teammates to fight with each other! What a heroic Zamtrios! I still need to kill it though…! I need to… I…"

Zach stood there, hesitating, for who knows how long.

In his mind, he was going through every possibility of what to do in this situation.

After standing there internally screaming for five minutes Sean pushed him out of the way and raised his gun.

"I'll just kill it."

* * *

It was at that moment that the Zamtrios sprung forward and grabbed Sean and Zach with its mouth.

It then spat them out as human bullets, aimed at Alexandra and Anthony respectively.

It then sprinted away.

Joseph, the only person who wasn't downed, tried to run after it.

But he wasn't able to keep up and in almost no time the Zamtrios reached the ocean, jumped in and swam off into the sunset.

"Huh…" Joseph thought "Guess Zamtrios aren't that selfless after all…"

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So that certainly was a chapter wasn't it

My general idea for this chapter came from my first experience with the series, being the 3U demo

Or as I like to call it, the worst possible first experience to Monster Hunter

So put yourself in the shoes of 10-11 year old me, who wasn't good at video games, not claiming I'm good now but it's an improvement at least

I downloaded a demo for a game that I'd read about in ONM (rip in peace) and had gotten a pretty good review.

I played it, selected SnS as one does and went to go fight the monster.

I tried hitting it a lot.

This didn't work as I too got hit.

This went for a while until I died.

Some fighting later I timed out because it only gives twenty minutes to kill the thing.

From that day I held a bad opinion of the series until about two years later where I picked up a preowned copy of 3U for 3DS as my friends had been talking about it a lot.

3U demo was terrible, you new fans and your good demos will never understand the pain it caused.

So with that story of the tsundere kid I was, guess I'll be taking my leave now probably.


	9. Redhelm Arzuros is a Misleading Name

Anthony:

Height: 179 cm

Weapon : Hammer

Monster: Lagiacrus

Age: 23

Place of origin: Kotoko Village

Hair colour: Green

Hairstyle: Messy (on purpose), chin length

Eye colour: Brown

Trivia: Dyed his hair green so that he would stand out more.

* * *

Zach held up a quest paper "Today, we're hunting a Redhelm Arzuros."

Joseph, Ben and Callum started laughing "Well, this'll be quick."

Riko was confused "You guys have never hunted a Redhelm before, have you?"

"Well, what could go wrong? It's still just an Arzuros, after all."

Sean suddenly interfered "Well, I found a different quest to go hunt a Agnaktor."

Everyone except for Zach, Joseph, Ben and Callum slided towards Sean.

They then walked off, except for Anthony who turned around and simply said "Try not to get too badly hurt, okay?" before walking off.

Confused by this, the four got onto the airship headed to the New World.

* * *

"Damn," Ben said, looking out from on top of the flying ship "It's been ages since we hunted together with just the eight of us."

"Yeah, haven't done that since the first chapter of the first part because of how much this writer's been compensating for his lack of plot development by adding new characters all the time." Zach added

"Leave the fourth wall alone, man..." Joseph mumbled

* * *

They landed in the deserted island and walked into area 2.

The Redhelm Arzuros turned to face them.

Ben suddenly ran behind it. "Heh, Arzuros can't turn all the way around in one strike, which means that I'll be able to get some hits before the second strike." He thought, before the Arzuros made a full swing around.

His thoughts then turned into a heavily fitting "GRAGHDASDF" as he flew off, falling unconscious.

There was a long silence among the remaining hunters, until Callum remembered some exposition he was meant to drop a few hours ago.

"I think I've heard of this. There are certain monsters that, if they survive enough hunting attempts, will be forced into evolution and grow in power and appearance. The results are monsters like this, the Redhelm Arzuros, who are difficult to hunt and require special permits from the guild."

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT EARLIER!?" Joseph yelled.

Callum looked bashful.

"Seriously, stop hoarding exposition, we need that shit!"

* * *

Zach was thinking out loud. "I see… so this is a deviant monster… Which means that…" He looked up to yell "MULTIPLE PEOPLE FAILED TO HUNT AN ARZUROS!?"

Joseph and Callum were both in shock.

"No way… it can't be…" Callum muttered.

"Hmph, it appears that the quality of hunters these days has just dropped since we started, what a society to live in…" Joseph contemplated what hunting was even about, at this point.

"I think I've worked out what it is." Zach announced "It must be hunters for hire."

Joseph added his own exposition "Oh yeah, I've heard of those types. They never try at their jobs and despite overwhelmingly possible odds they always find a way to lose, even and shit like cooking steaks or hunting 1 Aptonoth."

"Exactly, so when sent to hunt an Arzuros, specifically this one, they failed somehow." Zach explained "Then they did it again and again and again until it deviated and became an actual threat."

"So what you're saying is…" Callum started

"That this was caused by hunters for hire being a bunch of lazy assholes, yes." Zach interrupted.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The silence was interrupted by the Arzuros roaring.

"Oh yeah we should probably deal with that." Joseph pointed out.

* * *

First, Zach rushed in to try and attack.

The Arzuros swung at him, but was just about stopped by his shield.

It was at that moment that Callum ran and got in a few slashes, but the Arzuros didn't yield.

Instead it kicked backwards, sending Callum flying through the air before Sanchez caught him mid flight.

However, now stood on one foot, the Arzuros was now more unstable, which Zach used to push forward.

This wasn't effective as Arzuros are heavy, but the plan wasn't over. Zach then pushed his gunlance into the face of the giant bear and fired.

The Arzuros pulled back in pain.

The shell had become lodged in its right eye, critically wounding it.

Still, it could see.

But, Zappy then rushed in to sap its stamina and tried to knock it to the ground.

Even so, the Arzuros continued to struggle.

Therefore, Daimyo dropped in to lend a hand and the Redhelm was unable to fight back from the weight of two monsters.

As this was happening, Zach rushed in with a wyvern's fire ready.

While he did this, Joseph and Callum set down LBB+ for a large explosion that was sure to follow.

Finally, Daimyo and Zappy leapt back, grabbing Joseph and Callum but leaving behind Zach and the Arzuros.

As a result of this plan, there was a very large explosion, followed by Zach flying out of it and landing on the ground next to them with the sound of some snapping of bones being heard.

Zappy picked him up and put him on his mane where he rested.

"Well, that was a good hunt, let's go ho-" Callum began before being cut off by Joseph looking at the word count "No, it's not over yet."

* * *

The Arzuros stood up in the crater, seemingly unharmed.

However it was tired as hell and couldn't move for a while.

Joseph and Callum tried to run into attack, but were stopped by Sanchez pretty quickly.

Plessy suddenly appeared behind it and fired off a hipcheck.

The Arzuros reacted with surprise and was knocked flying.

Adrenaline had now taken over again and it landed on all fours, digging its claws into the ground to kill its momentum.

It bounded forwards towards Plessy.

Plessy used another hipcheck as the Arzuros closed in.

The Arzuros dodged to the right, rolling enough after the jump to get out of the way.

The Arzuros was now lined up with Plessy's head, where the Plesioth fired off a blast of pressurised water, stunning the Arzuros briefly.

It was at that moment that the Arzuros was shot with arrows from the side.

Daimyo then shot off another blast of pressurised water, almost toppling it.

The Arzuros managed to stand back up and jumped forward, pulling Joseph off of Daimyo's back.

The Arzuros pinned him to the ground and got ready to attack.

It was at that moment that Joseph stabbed forward with his carving knife, and did have success in hitting the neck of the Arzuros but its neck was so thick he wasn't able to get anywhere near the veins or arteries in the neck.

Instead, the Arzuros continued to slash at him.

It was interrupted however, by Ben, having woken a few minutes ago, hitting it on the back of the head with his switch axe.

The Arzuros reacted with pain and randomly struck out, one of these swings hitting Ben and sending him flying with an exciting "GRAGHDASDF"

Ben's pointless sacrifice wasn't in vain though as Joseph was given enough time to slip away.

He then rejoined Daimyo and they tried to think of a new plan of attack.

Before they could though the Arzuros ran into area 3.

They then got some potions out, recovering Ben and Zach.

* * *

They started to try forming a plan to take it out.

Ben was in thought for a while, before finally speaking up "What if we hit so much that it died."

"No, no. That wouldn't work, we'd never do enough damage for that without getting taken out first." Zach told him "We should blow it up."

Joseph interrupted "Zach we just tried that and you almost died."

"How do you know that?"

"Because it took 23 potions just to get you walking again, and 5 more to get you to full health."

"Well if we use mega potions this time, I'm sure it'll be a helluva lot less recovery time."

"That's not the point here…"

"THEN WHAT IS THE POINT!?"

"THE POINT IS THAT ALL YOUR BLOWING UP IS FUCKING EXPENSIVE!"

"WELL THEN WHAT'D YOU SUGGEST!?"

"I'D SIDE WITH BEN HERE, WE MIGHT NOT HAVE A PLAN ON THIS ONE, BUT IT'S BETTER THAN USING ATTACKS THAT DAMAGE OURSELVES!"

Ben then added to the conversation "Well then, by majority, we-"

Callum then interfered in that conclusion "No, I'd say that Zach's plan makes more sense. Like he said, there's no way we'd be able to do enough damage to get it down normally, we need to get a lot of damage in quickly."

They then began debating on what plan to take, until inevitably it was decided to see whose plan worked better here.

Though they were pretty much already divided by this, the eight of them divided into groups of four, refusing to communicating.

Zach, Zappy, Callum and Sanchez on the side of explosions.

Joseph, Daimyo, Ben and Plessy on the side of normal fighting.

Only the next few minutes would decide who was right.

* * *

Entering area 3, they saw the Arzuros waiting for them.

Callum was eager to prove himself right and was quick to try attacking, but the Arzuros was prepared with a strike. However, at that point Sanchez interfered and knocked it off guard.

Callum then jumped forward ready to place some barrel bombs down, when Ben flew in and pushed him out of the way and started hacking away at the Arzuros.

Then Zach suddenly jumped in with a wyvern's fire charged.

Ben looked up, as did the Arzuros, but both of them weren't able to dodge in time.

Ben collapsed to the ground.

Zach then attempted to grab a trap for the Arzuros, when he was hit out of the air by a pressurised water beam.

The beam of water hit Zach away, but was broken in half by a hipcheck from a superpowered Great Jaggi.

Sanchez then turned.

He unleashed a hipcheck that Joseph and Daimyo were just about able to dodge, though it ended up cutting the hill behind them in half.

Joseph and Daimyo sighed with relief, but saw more hipchecks being sent their way.

These were only warning shots, as if Sanchez had been fighting seriously they would be more than someone who just had "お前はもう死んでいる" told to them by a muscular man in a post apocalyptic wasteland, but Sanchez still didn't want them to get in the way of the plan, even if it meant harming them slightly.

But this was still dangerous as Sanchez had a very skewed perception of slight harm.

Joseph and Daimyo continued running away from the attacks, fearing for their lives.

Meanwhile the Redhelm Arzuros was now being ignored, something that it didn't really get but was kinda okay with to be honest.

It just sat there and waited, reflecting upon the decisions that had caused this in its life.

Joseph tried to recover from another dive for safety, only to see Plessy hit Sanchez from the side with a drop-hipcheck, in which he dropped out of the sky and launched a hip check, pushing him backwards and spinning around to land on his feet.

It was at that moment that Zappy was bored of waiting and tried to tackle Plessy. Though Plesioth are a lot bigger than Ludroth, they're a lot more frailly built than the walking damage sponges, also the legs are the easiest to reach part of the body and if you've ever played rugby in your life you know that's the place to aim for in terms of taking people down.

Also, to help out, Zach jumped in, being the only other enemy not yet downed.

They pushed Plessy to the ground and started hitting him, only for Zach to be hit by an arrow and knocked back. Zappy was rammed into at max speed propelled by a pressurised water blast and knocked flying.

Zach looked up and saw Joseph holding an arrow at his head.

"Let's stop this already, this fighting is pointless. Let's just go and fight it together."

"Wait a minute," Zach suggested "What if… we went with both!?"

Joseph yelled back excitedly and after waking everyone up they turned to the Arzuros, who was now relevant again.

It got up to fight, only to already have a trap placed under it.

A pitfall trap, specifically.

It fell down and tried to grab onto the ground around it.

But at that point it was already too late, and the most the Arzuros could do was try to keep its eye on them.

It was at that point that Ben and Zach started hitting it.

While this was happening Joseph was placing down barrel bombs. This wasn't just a normal amount of barrel bombs either, this was all of them.

When this was ready everyone turned at once to hit the barrel bombs.

The resulting explosion engulfed most of the area.

Joseph ended up upside down next to a wall.

Zach was also there, stuck to the ground.

Joseph started to speak "Huh… working together sure hurts like hell."

"Shut it… it worked, didn't it?" Zach replied, attempting to signal towards the crater that used to house a pitfall trap holding a Redhelm Arzuros.

* * *

After using up all of the potions to get moving again, the four of them walked back to the airship and finally made it back to Dundorma, where the other group was happily talking about how successful their hunt was, but went silent upon seeing them.

The four then walked back to their respective houses and collapsed for about 12 hours.

* * *

When Joseph finally woke up it was somewhere in the afternoon and he figured that it was too late to go hunting, even nearby at this point.

Instead, he bought some books on deviants in an attempt to make sure this didn't repeat.

He found a fair few of them and ended up despairing at the concept of a Snowbaron Lagombi, as well as noting that there was a lot of deviants for the more popular monsters, but he did notice something interesting.

"Stonefist Daimyo Hermitaur… huh?" He looked over at Daimyo. "So you can do something like that, then?"

He seemed to think for a second.

"Eh, whatever. Things are fine the way they are now, don'tcha think?" He answered his own question, walking off, leaving the concept of deviation behind as quickly as he could.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

I'm pretty sure that was a chapter.

Recently been watching through some NDRV3, about 2 chapters in.

The first chapter was decent, though there is one major thing that bugs me in terms of the killer's motive, and by that I don't mean why they did the murder, it's a motive for another one of their actions which was related to the murder, which you'd get if you had actually played it but if not this is just confusing, but overall it was a decent starting chapter, I'd put it as better than the 2-1 but not as good as 1-1, because 1-1 is my favourite chapter in the first game.

As for the 2nd chapter I ended up liking it a fair bit more, though really it's only problem is that the killer was obvious from about a minute before the body discovery, though the stuff with the bug appreciation club was adorable and Gonta is still best boy. Haven't really thought of where it ranks in comparison to the other 2nd chapters, because I love all of the 2nd chapters unconditionally, so there you go.

I can't really say who the mastermind is yet, but here's my predictions for some reason. Note that this'll indirectly spoil the results of the first 2 chapters, because I'm predicting past that.

Chapter 3: Shirogane is killer, Angie and Yumeno are victims. Shirogane dresses as Tenko to kill them both and attempts to get her executed. Stuff that gets her caught is that she can't see without her glasses and the whole "Can't cosplay as non fictional characters" thing.

Chapter 4: Shinguji tried to kill someone else, really could be anyone but in my opinion it'd likely be Saihara to involve the player though if Kodaka wants to really draw out the mystery have it be Iruma, also to give her some importance, Gonta notices this and interferes being the super ultra hyper gentleman insect loving best boy that he is, but Shinguji finds some way of making it so that Gonta killed him and during the trial the deal with Shinguji's mask (that'll be important somehow, I'm convinced of it) and Gonta gets executed.

Chapter 5: Not sure on exactly how it'd go, but it'll end in Ouma as the victim and Momota as the killer, maybe the mastermind set it up or it's 2-5 type or Momota is just sick of his "Kore wa usotsuki dakara ne!" shit, but Ouma will get murder-killed and Momota will get executed just before the final chapter, because he's Kamina.

Chapter 6: Assuming this is all correct, at least in terms of who dies, what happens is just speculation, the mastermind'll probably be either Harukawa or Kiibo. Leaning more towards Kiibo, just because Harukawa's already lied about her talent so I doubt they'd start layering the lies on, unless Kodaka seriously gets off by being unexpected, though to be honest that wouldn't surprise me considering this series' nature, but back on track probably Kiibo.

Now you may find yourself asking "Why is this dipshit writing about Danganronpa v3 on a Monster Hunter fanfic, surely he has a twitter account to do all off this?" Well the answer is "Shut up."


	10. Untitled

Sean:

Height: 177 cm

Weapon type: HBG

Preferred weapon: Pecopius Gun

Armour: Kaiser armour

Monster: Azure Rathalos

Age: 22

Place of origin: Yukumo Village

Hair colour: Black

Hairstyle: Spiked, short

Eye colour: Green

Trivia: One time he was really hungry and assumed that he was about to die so he bit into a live kelbi.

* * *

Alicia looked over to her Pink Rathian.

Alicia's Pink Rathian looked back.

"Why are ya still called Pink Rathian?" She wondered aloud.

"Like seriously, every other monster has a name. Even the new ones like Zino. Why have I still not given you a name?"

She stood up dramatically "Well, just you wait! I'm gonna give ya a name right here! Yup, any minute now! ...on the tip of my tongue… seriously… I got this…!"

After a few minutes of procrastinating in style she gave up.

"I'm… not that great with names, alright?"

The Pink Rathian just stared in response.

Alicia couldn't handle the pressure and went to go ask the others.

* * *

"Well," Joseph started "The reason behind Daimyo's name is a secret, so I won't just go around revealing it at the drop of a hat-"

Zach interrupted "He couldn't think of a good name and just named him after the first part of his species."

"Shaddup!" Joseph yelled in response "He wasn't a Daimyo Hermitaur when I named him, ya know!?"

"But…" Zach argued "You knew that he would turn into one, didn't you?"

"...No."

"He means yes." Zach answered.

"And as you can guess, Plessy's an abbreviation of Plesioth." Ben cut in.

"Well, I get that, but what about the other two?"

"Well actually I didn't think of Sanchez' name. Originally I wanted to call him John. However, he didn't want to be called John, which he expressed very clearly." Callum said, shuddering slightly, as if this had brought up some distressing memories.

"Got… got it. But what about Zappy?"

Zach shrugged.

"Wait seriously?"

"Yeah I dunno."

"How?"

"Dunno."

"That's uh… probably not that helpful. I don't think that something like that'd work, to be honest." Alicia thought.

* * *

She then went onto Anthony, who started an incredibly long story from which she understood something, something, betrayal, something, food, something, waves.

The general gist was that he named wave after the scenery that was there when they first became a team, but calling a monster "Field" wasn't that catchy.

Also it was kinda stupid.

* * *

Zino had already been established to be an abbreviation of Zinogre previously, so no point there.

That left Sean, who had Azure.

While it would be nice to match with him, the name of "Pink" didn't sound as cool.

Which left with her with pretty much no idea.

* * *

"Fuck it." Alicia said, writing out a bunch of names and throwing them into a hat, ready to be drawn from.

"STOP!" Zach yelled, jumping through the window and falling to the ground, picking himself up, now covered in cuts from the broken glass.

There was a few moments of silence solely disturbed by the sound of Zach's blood slowly dripping to the floor until he yelled "You can't just decide a monster name like that!"

"Uh…" Alicia replied "How am I supposed to decide, then?"

"I DUNNO!" Zach yelled in response, jumping out of the other window. But as he jumped he yelled "GO GET HELP FROM EVERYONE ELSE!"

Everyone else was then gathered, except for Zach, who had gone missing after jumping out of the window.

There was a long silence while names were thought up.

Finally Ben spoke up with "What if we called her 「Sweet Poison」?"

"Um…" Alicia replied "Isn't that a stand name?"

"What are you talking about? 「Sweet Poison」isn't a stand name?"

"Well yeah, but it sounds exactly like a stand name."

Joseph then interrupted with "Yeah, it sounds exactly like 「Stone Free」?"

"I thought it was called 「Stone Ocean」?" Riko asked.

"Shut up." Everyone replied in unison

"Well anyways," Ben continued "It'll be fine."

"No," Joseph disagreed "If we continue at this rate the universe will get destroyed."

"Don't worry," Ben responded "Much like everything in life, so long as religion doesn't get involved it'll turn out fine!"

"Wait a sec… are we allowed to publish this conversation…?"

"What do you mean?"

"Won't this be, like too offensive?"

"What are you talking about, humour needs to be offensive!?"

"Yes, I do agree, however it needs to be funny. You see the idea behind it is that the amount of offensiveness must completely feed into the humour of it, the exchange needs to be equal, anything lost in the reaction is bad."

"Don't worry, no one will ever see this."

"...?"

"Well think about it though. First off, this is a fanfiction, so we only have a maximum audience of about 100. Not only that, but this is a sequel to a shitty fic, so we've lost at least 90 of those potential readers. We also update on fridays, so we're often overshadowed by other, good fics that update on saturday, as most people come here on saturdays. The author lives in a different, earlier time zone than those guys, so to get above them on the page he needs to update at four in the morning, and he's too busy off shitposting on twitter all night to do that shit. The only way we have a chance of getting popular is if we broke 100K words, which would put us in the top 15 longest fics in this community. But at our current rate, that'll take around 25-ish chapters, and there's no way our author is good enough to think of 15-ish ideas after, all he can do is copy Gintama. I predict that by chapter 12 he'll abandon this and go write a serious fic, he's already started talking about Danganronpa in the author's comments, despite the series' humourous elements it still makes for serious stories, which is exactly what this sick bastard wants!"

Joseph tried to think of a comeback, and eventually responded with "Say what you want, but this is still probably the most popular T rated ongoing fic that's a sequel with under 40K words on this community at the minute!"

"That's a bit too specific, dontcha think?" Alicia interrupted "Now can ya bastards stop giving that goddamn author chances to complain instead of just dealing with it, and get back to discussing what we're here to discuss."

"The wall of text made me forget, what was it again?" Joseph asked.

Alicia spent a few seconds staring at them.

* * *

She then simply said "Get out."

"E-eh?" Joseph asked

"Get out."

"No, I-I mean, it's a jo-"

"Get out."

Joseph was then thrown out.

Ben started laughing, but Alicia threw him out too.

"Why!?" Ben asked.

"I just wanted to have a focus chapter." Alicia replied "Yet, here I am, with the two of ya, who do nothing but get screentime. Think about it, you were both in the first chapter, as well as the following chapters and…"

She pointed at Ben "Ya only didn't appear in four chapters out of the 28 we've only had so far, and…" She continued, turning to point at Joseph "YA GET AN APPEARANCE IN EVERY CHAPTER BAR ONE!"

Joseph appeared shocked, and tried to stammer out something about how he was the main character, but Alicia wasn't done.

"So, I've decided that I'm gonna overthrow every one of ya! That includes the two of ya, as well as Zach, wherever the fuck he went!"

"Wait, shouldn't Callum be in there." Ben pointed out.

"What are ya talking about? He's gotten the least screen time out of any of us."

"Fair point."

* * *

"Well, anyways. Here's my plan. We exclude you main characters from the chapter, so the author forgets about ya. Then we keep doing it until the author completely forgets about ya, effectively writing you out of existence by accident."

"Wait a minute," Joseph had now calmed down and was trying to argue "at that point all of ya would become the main characters and we would become the side characters, which would just continue the same way it was with things flipped, basically nothing changed in the universe. Then, we would try to take over again and if successful things would reset to the way they were. Then ya would come in and set things back to the way they were for ya before again. Then this would continue, creating an infinite loop of rising and falling screentime."

"Don't worry," Alicia replied "I'm sure someone's bound to break the cycle at some point."

"So then shouldn't y-"

"But it sure won't be me." Alicia replied, slamming the door shut.

"..."

Someone dynamically appeared before them "Have no fear, for I shall save us from this screentime drought!"

* * *

Alicia came back to sit down and plan, but as Anthony was about to suggest something Ben and Joseph burst through the wall.

Anthony was shocked by this and was getting ready to yell an exclamation of surprise, but was then hit by a Royal Ludroth jumping forwards, with a hunter using a gunlance riding on his back.

Zach then yelled out "WE WON'T LET YA ASSHOLES TAKE OUR SCREENTIME AWAY!"

Anthony was then caught by Wave and brought back to the others.

Joseph and Ben drew their weapons to fight, running to Zach's side.

Anthony got back up and drew his hammer, accompanied by Sanchez, Callum and Riko getting ready to fight as well.

Riko then yelled back "Don't worry! The five of us will hold them off here! You guys go on ahead! I believe in you! Get your own focus chapter and become main characters for us!"

The three of them charged forwards into battle, looking kind of like the Great Gurren Squad before they all got killed by the anti-spirals in space.

Alicia, Sean and Alexandra just kind of walked off to get to a safe place, while Sanchez destroyed half of the town during the battle.

A few hours passed, but she was unable to come up with any ideas.

Eventually the earthquakes stopped, which probably meant the battle was over, so she decided to go home and go to sleep.

* * *

She woke up in a place unable to see anything.

A small girl was there, sitting in a corner, crying.

"Ah… so I'm having this dream, aren't I?" She thought to herself.

She watched the girl cry for an unspecified amount of time. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years? She didn't know, all she knew was what would happen after.

A great light filled the world, and she saw a hand outstretched.

After some fearful hesitation, the girl reached out to grab it, and was in a world of colours with three people.

A boy with short, black hair and green eyes alongside two similar looking adults, his parents.

Time continued to pass, the two continued to get older.

Despite how grey the world surrounding the colours were, they continued to shine brightly.

The two adults turned into nothing.

The colour surrounding the boy drained, becoming the uncomfortable grey that was outside.

The world's safeplace turned into nothing.

The boy acted as though he had turned into nothing.

For a while, they wandered emptily, meeting new people.

The slightest amount of colour surrounded them along the way.

The girl thought that he was empty, that there was no point to following him around, she seemed to only be doing it to survive.

But then, the boy left, on the back of a wyvern, seeming to soar to greater heights.

Armour grew around him, he grew stronger and stronger, but she couldn't see his emotions recovering.

But, he took the colour with him.

The girl realised something.

That colour was from him.

He wasn't empty, there was still a way of saving him.

She had cared about him.

But by now he had soared out of her reach, gone among the clouds.

Despite everything else, her heart was empty.

She tried to soar after him, but she wasn't able to grow wings to leave the ground.

She crumbled to the ground, nothing.

Once again she wandered.

On an empty field of nothing, she found hope.

A Pink Rathian, appearing as wounded as she was.

The two were drawn to each other they took off from the ground.

They caught up to him in what seemed like no time, eventually reaching him in a new land.

The colour had been reached again, but it was just the same as it was before, but it made a change from her world of grey.

But still, the girl was now resolved.

She would bring out that heart.

Half a year passed, and sure enough she got to where she was now.

More people appeared, and at this point it was where Alicia was now, having run through the past 15 years of her life.

This is the point where it ended, nothing changing. The last thing she would see would be the 8 other hunters and herself disappearing into the greyness.

But, this point, something different happened.

She and her Rathian turned to look at her.

She smiled at Alicia.

The smile continued, unfaltering, but not getting awkward.

After a while, Alicia knew what to do.

The smiling herself was met with a response of a smile back, at which point she and the Rathian turned to walk into the grey.

The grey… wasn't that hated.

It was a part of life, Alicia guessed.

But still, she wasn't just going to let herself be swallowed by it.

She needed to stand out with colour. But… she couldn't get anywhere by just relying on others. She wanted to bring Sean back from that grey he had drowned in, but being grey herself wouldn't do that.

So she wouldn't just stop here. She was going to create colour herself, so she could spread it into the world of greyness, so she could at least have the place that she had before.

That was what she thought, so she would start by giving her monster a name.

Her Rathian, she was her eternal teammate.

She at least deserved a name for letting her soar out of the place she found herself in, so she would start repaying her with this.

* * *

Alicia woke up, and looked at her sleeping Rathian.

She walked outside, her Rathian getting up to follow her.

The others were standing by the quest counter, checking to see if there were any good quests today, as one does when standing by the quest counter.

Alicia ran up to them, looking excited.

"Guys!" She yelled "I finally thought up a name!"

There was a silence, until Callum started to ask what it was and was instantly cut off.

"Well it all started last night when I had a exposition dream that gave a decent impression of my past but left enough out to the point where if the author suddenly has an interesting idea he can retcon it in to my past, which gave me the idea to do some kind of name based around colour. I then went to the library and researched names to do with colour and inevitably found decided on her name…!"

There was a silence as Alicia looked to her Rathian, knowing this was the last time anyone would have to call her that.

"The name I decided on was Ayano!"

Everyone let out their responses which came across as a general "Huh, cool."

They finally got a good quest to do and started heading to the gate, but while they did Alicia stood in place and reflected silently, seeming down after her high a few moments ago.

After a few seconds she was interrupted by Ayano hitting her on the back playfully with her tail.

Alicia let out a yelp and fell to the ground, before laughing it off and getting on her back, flying up into the sky, prepared to soar to greater heights to bring out as much colour as she could in this world that she used to only be able to see as grey.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Holy shit I've written ten of these things now.

It's been like almost half a year now.

I'm actually in shock right now, I didn't think I'd be able to hold down a schedule this long with only one hiatus.

I'll probably end up gushing like this again if I reach a year of releases, but thank you very much reading so far, all three (?) of you.

On the subject of not taking that many hiatuses, I'd like to announce that I'm taking a hiatus next update as I'm going to Ireland for family related stuff, as I happen to have one of those.

Other news is that recently Persona 5 came out, but my only understanding of Persona is that it's a Jojo reference, so I'll probably end up trying that sometime after I'm done with NDRV3. I don't know where to start, but I'm friends with enough people who do so I could probably find out pretty easily, so I mean there you go.

See you next update.


	11. Final Hunt (1)

Alicia:

Height: 168 cm

Weapon type: LBG

Preferred Weapon: Khezu Syringe

Armour: Nerscylla

Monster: Pink Rathian

Age: 22

Place of origin: Yukumo Village

Hair colour: Light pink

Hairstyle: Long

Eye colour: Brown

Trivia: Has a slight gambling addiction

* * *

The mountains of the Ancestral Steppe were silent, with the exception of the two large wyverns who came crashing into it.

The wyvern currently winning was an Astalos, pinning a Rathalos to the floor.

The Rathalos suddenly shot out a fireball, taking the Astalos off guard.

The Astalos stumbled back but instead of being able to take the chance to attack the Rathalos had to back off to get his footing steady.

In anger, the Astalos charged up to maximum, ready to fight.

The Astalos soared forward, aggressively roaring before being hit from the side by a unseeable unstoppable force.

He was unable to process what happened, his head already crushed against the rocks in the same instant.

The Rathalos felt every instinct in his body scream to run, which it had no reason to disobey.

The wyvern took off from the ground, attempting to gain distance, but this was closed before it could properly begin.

He was grabbed by the tail and dragged back into hell by gravity.

The ground caused damage, but not enough to kill him, what killed the former King was his head exploding.

The mountains of the Ancestral Steppe were silent, with the exception of the sound of crunching bones.

* * *

There was a large amount of commotion in the Guild hall today.

"Huh? What's all this about?" Zach wondered aloud, hoping some exposition would appear to explain the commotion.

Eventually after making his way through the crowd he read the quest paper for it.

 **Urgent quest: Help free the Ancestral Steppe!**

 **Quest reward: 4000 zeni**

Recently, many monsters have been seen fleeing from the Ancestral Steppe. While the cause of this is unknown, it is presumably the result of a large wyvern. Until the wyvern in question has been identified, the Guild is unable to justify sending any professional hunting teams in, so your job is to investigate the cause of these problems. While there is a reward for hunting it, should the problem be anything 6 star threat level and above, engaging it in combat will be strictly punished in most circumstances.

After gathering everyone else and showing them the reward, they hastily agreed and set out.

* * *

Multiple other teams of hunters have set out, in hopes of identifying the cause and getting that reward, as well as potentially eliminating the cause and getting recognition.

In total, the amount of people in the Ancestral Steppe, including the main characters, neared 50.

All of the different hunters hurriedly split off to cover as much ground as possible. Some were lone wolves, some were dynamic duos, some were your standard teams of four and some were larger groups. A reward of riches and fame brought out all different types of people, it would've been interesting to observe the diversity if you weren't there for any reason other than said riches and fame.

* * *

They made their way into area 4, and were about to go up the mountain like everyone else, when suddenly they saw a shadow fly overhead.

The shadow spotted them, and swooped downwards.

The nine hunters all scattered to try and dodge the impact that the flying wyvern left.

The golden-scaled wyvern stood up before them, flicking its tail at them.

From the tail shot out scales which hit the surroundings, leaving visible scratches.

The wyvern then finally raised upwards towards the sky, letting out a scream that caused the hunters to cover their ears.

When they could finally hear safely again, Ben yelled "What the hell is that thing!?"

"Hell if I know! I've never seen it before!" Riko yelled back.

No one here had ever encountered the monster before, and there was no idea of what it was until Alexandra spoke up "I think that I might know it. I've heard of it a few times in passing…"

She continued with "The Thousand Blade Wyvern: Seregios. They say that it's an aggressive force of destruction, with golden scales sharper than anything else. While I doubt parts of that, there's no denying the similarities here."

"What threat level is it?"

"Well it's been spotted sometimes fighting equally against Rathalos, so I'd guess a 5 star."

Sean pulled out his bowgun, charging forward. "That's good then!"

It was pretty obvious what was going on here.

The Seregios had suddenly made its appearance, disrupting the Ancestral Steppe and its ecosystem.

It had chased the other wyverns out, attempting to claim the mountains for itself.

Since the Seregios was only a 5 star, they could take it down without many worries, so once they did that they would be able to claim the reward as well as the reward for eliminating the cause.

Everyone else charged forward, getting ready for the fight.

* * *

The first to appear was surprisingly Joseph and Daimyo.

Daimyo took a wide swing at the Seregios, which was quickly leapt around.

Joseph pulled back an arrow and shot through the air.

While it did connect, it hardly had an effect and the Seregios pounced through the air towards Joseph, but was unable to connect due to Daimyo blocking the attack.

Joseph shot some arrows overhead from behind, raining down on the Seregios.

The Seregios continued to attempt to attack, but was blocked by Daimyo once again, getting shot at by arrows each time, though now it was learning to dodge.

On one of the attempts the Seregios appeared to go for the same tactic as before, but suddenly changed targets to Daimyo, catching him off-guard by swinging its tail vertically.

Daimyo's guard was broken by this and he stumbled backwards slightly.

It was at this moment that the scale lodged took effect, causing Daimyo to fall to the ground and bleed from where he was hit.

Joseph wasn't sure of what had happened exactly, but recognising that Daimyo wasn't able to properly he attempted to step in to get the Seregios' attention.

This didn't work, the Seregios focusing on the weaker target, so Joseph tried to step in between them.

The Seregios seemed almost confused, but attacked anyways.

It effortlessly hit Joseph out of the way, lodging one of its scales in his stomach for good measure.

Joseph clattered to the ground several meters away and looked up.

He got to his feet to stumble forward, but collapsed due to the scale. He struggled some more, but to no avail, only losing more blood for his trouble.

The Seregios struck at Daimyo again, slashing him across the face with its right claw.

Joseph attempted to struggle to his feet and walk forward one more time, throwing everything he had into this one simple action but fell short of doing so.

While this was happening, Daimyo was being attacked.

He started the same motion again, only for Riko to suddenly jump in.

He swung his sword through the air, stopping just short of the Seregios, due to the fact that it had backed off.

The Seregios shot out scales, which were blocked by the sword.

Suddenly the Seregios heard noise from its left, so instead of pressing forward it lept into the air, to dodge a Lagiacrus sliding at it.

Wave wasn't done yet though, he turned its head while spinning to shoot out a ball of electricity.

The Seregios quickly dodged around and attempted to press the attack again.

It was interrupted by a hammer user jumping in from the side, almost connecting with its head.

Wave then lept forward, attempting to hit it with electricity.

The Seregios managed to shoot out some scales, catching the Lagiacrus in the throat and causing him to lose blood, but he continued forwards regardless, taking the Seregios by surprise and knocking it out of the air.

Both fell to the ground, causing dust to raise into the air around them.

Unfortunately due to where Wave was hit, he was unable to get up, as reopening the neck wound could be fatal for him.

On the other hand, despite having been hit with an element it was weak too, the Seregios could still move.

It got up and raised itself to strike downwards, at which point it sensed a presence to its left, but was unable to dodge in time to avoid a blow to the head from Anthony's hammer.

The Seregios was momentarily stunned, giving Anthony another chance to hit it.

Regaining its senses, the golden wyvern jumped backwards, shooting out scales aimed at Anthony's head.

Anthony ducked underneath them and charged forward again, his strike this time missing.

But he wasn't done, swinging around from the side, catching the Seregios off guard, but before he could recover from the attack the Seregios was able to lodge some scales in his stomach.

The Seregios flew backwards again, Anthony attempted to press the attack but fell to his knees, unable to move.

The Seregios saw its chance and flew forward, Anthony unable to move out of the way.

It soared forward, but before it could connect its attack another hunter stepped in.

Riko drew his sword and waited for the wyvern to close in.

When it was close enough he suddenly switched his footing to a defensive position and held his sword in front of him.

The Seregios crashed into the blade, attempting to push forwards but to no avail, as Riko stood planted to the ground.

Despite gaining some slight distance, the Seregios ran out of momentum and stopped before it could take the advantage.

It dropped back to the ground, attempting to recover, Riko doing the same.

The Seregios recovered first.

It swung its entire body around in an attempt to hit Riko with its tail.

Unfortunately this time Riko didn't have the time to properly raise his guard, nor did he have the time to roll around it.

Riko attempted to reduce damage, but still found himself being knocked backwards.

Luckily though, he was able to avoid bleeding.

The Seregios took this chance to attack, but now Riko was ready for the attack and rolled out of the way.

The Seregios was unable to move out of the way of his strike in time and as a result was hit with a strike from the Great Sword, being slammed into the ground.

The Seregios wildly shot scales in a panic, three connecting with Riko's torso.

The Seregios then attempted to get back up, only to find a Zinogre leaping at it.

The Seregios quickly lept into the air, narrowly avoiding the attack.

* * *

It flew to the other end of the area, clearly wanting to keep its distance from the lightning wolf.

It was at that moment that Zach, who until now had just been kind of standing around sprung into action in an attempt to bring the Seregios down.

He fired off a shell, connecting with the Seregios' right wing and grabbing its attention.

The Seregios, frustrated by this, attempted to strike Zach with a left hook, but was blocked with some slight difficulty.

At that moment, Zappy jumped up from behind it, attempting to tackle it.

The Seregios was caught unaware by this, having been focusing its attention on its previous attacker.

It crashed to the ground, while being hit by some mucus which limited its movement.

The Seregios attempted to get up from the ground, to no avail. It noticed the space near its head growing warmer. Realising what this was, the Seregios twisted its body around frantically, attempting to escape the potential damage.

A fully charged wyvern's fire scorched through the air, hitting the Seregios' neck and upper back but missing the head, just about.

The Seregios stood up again, now injured and attempted to press forward despite its burns.

Suddenly, it saw a hunter with a switch axe running towards it. As the hunter closed in, they swung forwards wildly, still in axe mode.

The Seregios lept backwards, dodging the strikes.

It then swept forward, striking out with its claws and inflicting bleeding on the hunter, however as it tried to back off again it was slashed across the tail with the axe. It wasn't enough to sever it, but the Seregios flinched from the pain of it.

The Seregios attempted to take off into the air, only to be cut off by two flying wyverns.

Azure shot out a fireball, the Seregios flying around it.

It tried to make a break for the sky, only to be hit in the face by Ayano's tail, getting poisoned and falling back to the ground.

Luckily, the impact wasn't too bad and the Seregios was able to stop itself before taking too much damage, but it could already feel the poison starting to take effect.

The Seregios then heard the sound of charging behind it and turned to see a Zinogre running at it full speed.

Unfortunately, this time, it was unable to move out the way in time and was pinned to the ground by Zino.

* * *

Zino repeatedly hit the Seregios, beating it into the ground.

The Seregios retaliated with a tail strike upwards.

While it didn't do much, it at least got lodged in Zino's stomach, causing it to stop in an attempt to heal.

The Seregios took this chance to break free and knocked Zino over.

It charged in for another attack but was quickly blocked by Alexandra, now stepping in to defend her partner.

It now turned to once again search for a means of escape, knowing that it couldn't win this fight.

It heard a noise behind it and quickly moved to the side, dodging some bullets shot from above.

The Seregios continued to move rapidly, dodging more bullets and arrows that Joseph was shooting from the side.

The Seregios stopped to face a dual blades user running at it, but was able to quickly sweep him aside with a tail swipe.

From the other side, Sanchez pounced at it furiously, attempting to take advantage of the opening that the attack had left, but was blocked by the Seregios' wing.

Sanchez dropped to the ground to attack again, but by now the gap had closed and the Seregios was able to counter with a claw strike, hitting him square in the chest and inflicting bleeding.

The others were previously unable to shoot for fear of hitting Callum and Sanchez, but now that they were out of the way, the attacks resumed, though the Seregios had made use of a couple of seconds in between to recover slightly.

However, as the Seregios began to dodge rapidly again, it noticed itself start to get hit more frequently. Not only that, but most of those hit by the scales had recovered and were now starting to get up.

The Seregios, realising that at this rate it would die, changed from the defensive to the offensive.

* * *

The Seregios ran towards Azure and Ayano.

The two Raths took this opportunity to shoot out fireballs.

The Seregios was able to avoid the one from Azure, but took Ayano's on the right wing, damaging it but not slowing it down.

It flew straight up to them both, the hunters on their backs shooting at them.

First, the Seregios targeted Ayano, likely out of desire for revenge of the damage just inflicted.

The Seregios swung its body completely around with its tail before Ayano could react, slashing her straight across the chest and getting multiple scales lodged.

Even though Ayano was downed, the Seregios had no time to rest, but luckily was able facing the next opponent.

* * *

Azure attempted to do an attack of his own, charging forwards.

The Seregios dodged around it by taking off slightly.

Normally, Azure would've been open from behind at this point, but Sean's cover fire was enough to stop an attack from occurring.

Azure turned around and flew into the air to follow it, shooting out a fireball as he took off.

The Seregios flew around the fireball and charged to meet him.

The two wyverns danced ferociously through the air, Azure being careful not to make any moves too elaborate or get grabbed due to Sean still clinging on to his back.

This caution is what led to his downfall, when Azure found himself in a corner. He couldn't back off, and there was nowhere to dodge to horizontally.

As the Seregios charged in, Azure dived below it.

Sean normally would've fired, but at the speed they were going at he had no chance of being able to do that.

The Seregios caught up despite this speed.

Azure turned, now with better positioning to fight it but didn't realise this left him open.

The Seregios struck forwards with its claws, catching Azure off guard.

Azure attempted to recover, only to be hit with a tail strike, sending him plummeting to the ground.

Sean fell off, less harmed than he could be, and raised his gun in case the Seregios took this chance to attack.

But, the Seregios took off into the sky, having achieved what it needed to.

* * *

It flew south-east.

Those who could still move followed it into area 8, but found that it had no intention of stopping there, as it flew straight over the area and was now above the fields stretching out across the landscape, where the hunters had no way of reaching it.

At least, that's how it looked, until Joseph noticed a large rock sitting close by.

The rock was now set up so that it was leaning on a large amount of barrel bombs.

Daimyo was sitting on the rock, Joseph on his back.

"Okay," Joseph announced "So the plan is that Zach will wyvern's fire the barrel bombs, at which point me and Daimyo will be sent flying into the air, straight into the Seregios."

"Got it." Zach replied, beginning to charge his gunlance, which was no longer overheated.

"Wait a minute! Can't you see everything wrong with that?" Alexandra yelled

"Whatcha mean?" Joseph responded.

"Well first off, there's a very low chance of you actually hitting the Seregios. There's also the risk of the rock not making it through the explosion and you just getting caught in the blast instead of being launched. Plus, assuming this somehow works, what's your game plan after hitting the Seregios? You have no way down other than falling!"

"Holy shit, ya have a point! I dunno why I didn't think of that before!" Joseph turned around "Cancel the plan, Zach, cancel it!"

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Had you taken a picture of Zach's face at that moment, the heavily shortened version of those thousand words would've been something like "Joseph I can't stop it and it's too late to pull away because it'll go off in like two seconds ya need to get off that rock right now because you're about to go flying through the air and ya will probably die Joseph I know that we fight sometimes okay a lot of the time but I don't want ya to die dude ya know so like seriously get off that rock because that will happen"

However, by the time Joseph was done translating his expression into words, he was already flying through the air.

* * *

Miraculously it had worked and they were now falling towards the Seregios.

Joseph noticed that they weren't going to hit at the rate at which they were going, instead they would just fall behind it and crash into the ground, probably dying, so while Daimyo held onto him he shot off an arrow which completely missed the Seregios.

The Seregios noticed the arrow though, and anticipating more attacks stopped to look up.

Which worked against it as it was now directly in the path of the falling Daimyo and Joseph.

The Seregios would've dodged under normal circumstances, but found it difficult to move as a result of its damage.

So it was hit.

The Seregios fell towards the ground, weighed down by an armoured defense crab.

"Yes!" Joseph thought "We got it! Now to work out a way of avoiding hitting the ground at our current speed…"

Joseph couldn't really look around, but the only thing near him other than the ground was the open sky.

There was nothing to grab onto or latch onto to slow their descent.

"Ah… shit."

The three of them crashed into the ground, though luckily enough the Seregios hit the ground first and slightly softened the landing, though not by much.

* * *

Joseph was first up, followed by Daimyo, who both attempted to gain as much distance from the Seregios as possible.

The Seregios got up and accidentally revealed the most vital part of its collected damage in the process.

Its wings were broken.

It could no longer fly.

If it could fight off Joseph and Daimyo, then it'd probably be able to escape before the others showed up.

If Joseph and Daimyo could kill it, it would be dead.

This was the final act of the fight.

The Seregios screamed, attempting to ignore its pain through sheer anger so that it could survive.

The Seregios instantly took the offensive, attempting to land a hipcheck on Daimyo and catch him off guard.

However, Daimyo had already recovered from the roar, blocking the attack.

The Seregios was now open to attack, which Joseph took advantage of, running around Daimyo to shoot some arrows at its left.

The Seregios, seeing the weapon leave the shield rushed forwards.

It swung once at Joseph, a strike which he jumped underneath.

Joseph continued running to attempt to gain some distance.

The Seregios continued to pursue, fighting with everything it had.

In doing so, it managed to further separate Daimyo and Joseph.

Daimyo attempted to catch up to the fight, but it continued to move further away.

While normally, Joseph would've attacked, he didn't want to risk losing stamina, as in order to avoid getting hit he needed that at the minute.

The Seregios took a horizontal swing with its tail, which was its undoing.

Because of its positioning, after the tailspin the Seregios was facing away from Joseph.

It twisted its body around to go for another attack, but by now Joseph had moved towards Daimyo.

The Seregios went for a claw strike, but Joseph wasn't cut off by this, in fact, the only option the Seregios gave him was to dodge towards Daimyo, which he gladly accepted.

Now that things were back to the way they were before, Daimyo took this chance to rush forward.

He hit the Seregios with a left hook, briefly stunning it.

Joseph, of course, took this chance to hit it from behind with arrows.

The Seregios attempted to back away from Daimyo, but was unable to get around his lunging grab, being dragged to the ground.

Daimyo pinned the Seregios, continuing to damage it while it was unable to escape.

Finally, the attacks momentarily stopped and the Seregios was able to escape.

It took it a few seconds to back off, but when it looked back Daimyo was gone, leaving only Joseph.

It took another second to scan the environment, looking for where Daimyo could be hiding.

Suddenly, Joseph grabbed its attention by shooting an arrow at it.

The arrow connected, not causing much damage, but that wasn't the idea.

The arrow had a sonic bomb attached to it.

The sonic bomb set off, startling the Seregios and momentarily freezing it with shock.

But, that wasn't all the attack was for, as the Seregios was soon to learn.

Daimyo suddenly burst out of the ground from beneath the Seregios, taking it off guard and knocking it off of its feet and onto the ground.

Joseph then rushed in and fired a volley of arrows into the air.

He got closer and directly slashed at the Seregios, leaving one off the arrows buried in its hide for good measure.

Joseph then jumped back and Daimyo shot off a beam of pressurised water.

If the Seregios wasn't dead before that last hit, it certainly was afterwards.

* * *

Joseph celebrated with Daimyo over successfully hunting the Seregios, and about midway through this celebration the others showed up.

They called over the felynes that were organising the quest, and upon inspecting the body they came to the same conclusion of "The Seregios did it."

The lead felyne briefly spoke, informing them that for this they'd get a star added to their hunter ID and would get their temporary ban on hunting high-level monsters like elder dragons lifted.

There was some celebration until Zach got handed a quest paper by the felyne.

He didn't read the full paper, but the top part read

 **Urgent quest: Go tell the others the quest is over.**

 **Quest reward: I'll buy you a drink or something.**

"Oh…" Zach thought "Guess we're still not getting that much recognition…"

* * *

They walked up the mountain, unable to find anyone.

It was on the path between area 6 and area 5 that they finally heard a noise.

It was the sound of crunching bones.

They quickly turned the corner to witness a horrific sight.

* * *

Blood was lazily painted across the path, covering the walls and floor.

Occasionally, the odd limb or two could be spotted mixed in, but that wasn't what was taking the hunter's attention.

The sole living being in the middle of this destruction that caught everyone's attention.

It was a large, quadrupedal wyvern with striking red scales solely interrupted by its blue spines and claws.

* * *

 **Molten Tigrex: The Great Roaring Wyvern**

 **Threat Level: 6 stars**

They had heard of this wyvern only in passing beforehand. Even more elusive than the Seregios, it was rumoured to be a variant of Tigrex even more powerful than the Grimclaw. Wyverns capable of destroying something, then disappearing, never being seen until they chose too.

But there was something else about this wyvern.

Its eyes.

They were coloured purple, with large black slits for pupils running down the middle.

 **Just like the immortal monsters from Tanzia.**

There was a silence broken by Zach saying "W-we need to run."

But he was cut off by one of the hunters running forward, followed by a monster.

An arrow was shot out, catching the Tigrex off guard and grabbing its attention.

The monster retaliated by digging up some rocks and aimlessly launching them.

One of them was about to hit the hunter. While it wouldn't have been fatal, it would've certainly done damage, especially with the armour he was wearing.

But just before the second of connection, a blue aura seemed to appear surrounding the hunter and the second the rock connected with the aura he rolled straight beneath it, hopped to his feet and ran to the point where he was directly out of the radius of the blast caused by the rocks exploding.

The hunter then quickly shot off another arrow, connecting directly with the Tigrex's face.

The monster ran up to join him.

Finally the hunter spoke "It's been… 16 years, huh? This time… there's no way in hell that I'll back down!"

The beast appeared to smile.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Yep, cliffhanger endings, surprising, isn't it?

So unlike me.

Um… I haven't really got that much to talk about this time.

I mean, like seriously, I haven't finished anything.

I'm caught up on Little Witch Academia but that doesn't really count as it's ongoing (though it's really good), I've only just started Persona 3 (on May) and I'm near the end of AA: Justice For All, but I'd rather talk about that once I've finished the whole trilogy.

I'm not even at the end of a NDRV3 chapter, only on chapter 4's abnormal days (though now the next 3 deaths are obvious, as well as who the mastermind is, so I'm hoping something'll happen to catch me off guard)

So that was a author's notes about not having anything to talk about in my author's notes.

I'm the meta now I guess.


	12. Final Hunt (2)

It was around 16 years ago that I first met Daimyo, so at the time I guess I was five.

I remember it fairly well.

My village… Tanith Village…

* * *

It was a village really far out, even for the New World, to the point where every few months or so we'd go to Loc Lac for trade dealings, due to not being able to get a lotta the stuff we needed ourselves.

It was on one of these trips that I decided to accompany them. There wasn't much to it.

For those first few years of my life I was stuck there, unable to leave. The village was pretty much my entire world, so I wanted to see what was outside of my world.

So I snuck onto one of the carts when it was leaving. No real reason why, I just kind of did.

About halfway there they found me, but at that point they couldn't turn back, so I ended up tagging along for the rest of the journey.

The way there wasn't anything interesting looking back, but at the same time I ended up enjoying the hell outta what I saw due to it being different from my day-to-day life.

We got to Loc Lac and I explored for a little while, not wandering too far for fear of getting lost in the massive city. Once again, it was nothing that special, but the feeling of being insignificant that a place like that gave me was something new.

* * *

On the way back, we were stopping for a few hours when we found a cave, that we decided to check out just in case there was anything dangerous inside.

It was completely devoid of life, but not because it was empty.

The corpses of Hermitaurs were scattered everywhere and in the middle of all this carnage was the decaying mostly-eaten corpse of a Daimyo Hermitaur.

The sight was horrifying, but while amidst the panic that ensued as a result, I noticed a slight movement.

A small Hermitaur climbed out of the ground despite our presence.

He seemed to carry on despite the violence around him, so either he wasn't a part of this pack or he was already used to the sight of his family's corpses.

Either way, I approached him and was instantly bitten.

I backed off in surprise, but when I approached with malicious intent he didn't seem to care enough to dodge.

It was like he'd given up on living.

So, in an emotion that I'd assume was pity, I took him home, and promptly got yelled at for getting on a cart to Loc Lac without permission, disappearing for two weeks on said cart and bringing a monster back home.

Still, I was allowed to keep Daimyo, due to the village generally being chill with monsters and a few months passed.

It was on that day… that everything in my life flipped.

* * *

A monster was sighted far off in the distance, it seemed to be charging straight for the town.

We didn't have many hunters in the village, but luckily they were all around at that point.

So they were sent off to go and fight off the Tigrex.

I'm not sure what happened, but the entire village flew into a state of panic after a few minutes, so it became obvious with the benefit of sunlight.

People were attempting to evacuate, but what they had seen was causing them to lose rational thought.

The village flew into a state of chaos.

There was only one way out, which was also the entrance.

So if the monster came through there, there'd be no way out.

We were trapped animals, ready for the slaughter sure to follow.

My parents tried to lead me to a place where I could hide, but I realised we forgot Daimyo. For some reason, the panic still hadn't hit me, so despite their attempting to catch me so we could hide I ran back to the house.

I heard a crashing outside when I entered by didn't think that much of it.

I found Daimyo inside, hiding for some reason.

Was he scared? To this day, I'm still unsure.

Still, I brought him outside to watch the scene that unfolded.

* * *

The monster had entered the village.

A fully red quadrupedal beast, which I later came to understand as a Molten Tigrex.

It stood a few metres away from me, eating something which I didn't realise.

Until I realised.

It was a metre or two away from my house.

My parents would've been near there when the crash occurred.

"No..." I thought, my brain completely shutting down.

I'm not sure how I looked at that moment, but all I felt was dread.

The monster looked over to me and began to charge forward.

That was where I was supposed to die.

I assumed that I was dead.

I was scared, but my fate was obvious before me.

I could do nothing.

But, fate passed me by.

The Tigrex ran by me.

As it did, I looked into its eyes.

Eyes of absolute purple, disturbed only by the empty black slits that focused on me.

The Tigrex continued to run past and started to tear into the people further back in the village.

I didn't watch it, but behind me I heard the noise of explosions.

The paralysis cast on me was completely broken, and I ran.

I ran straight out of the village, leaving everything behind.

The only thing I brought with me was Daimyo, still being held for some reason.

* * *

I don't know how far I ran.

But by the time I stopped the village was long behind me.

I stopped, breaking down out of tiredness, at which point I collapsed.

Daimyo walked off.

I must've laid there for a few hours.

Daimyo came back, with some plants that were probably herbs.

I ate them and regained some form of strength, sitting up and thinking back.

It was at that moment it hit me.

I started crying over everything that had happened.

The death of my parents.

Not having a home left to go back to.

Not being able to stop what had just happened.

I was too weak to stop anything.

I should've died.

But I was alive.

I didn't need to keep living, but I didn't want to die.

I was scared, so I got up and started to walk.

I followed the path we'd taken before, and sure enough I reached Loc Lac in about three months.

About a year or two after that I met the others and a year after that I came across David and Maria, so at that time I would have been around eight years old.

Until that point, we pretty much had an existence based on the pity of others.

Common people who felt sorry for a bunch of kids, poor people who sympathised with our situation, rich people who wanted to look good, they all ensured our survival even though it didn't matter to them.

Of course, sometimes we had to steal, but that was less common, maybe once a week.

I was alive, but only by default.

That speech I got about dying and all, it changed my outlook, to be honest.

I think I wanted to live.

I wanted to protect everyone, so to do that I just had to kill the things that would kill everyone else, right?

So I would become strong and kill everything that could kill who I care about.

Of course, that'd never work, it was just some kid's dream, and of course I was unable to, but it was what I desired to do.

 **When was it… that the dream changed?**

* * *

Joseph took a hop backwards, attempting to gain some distance on the Tigrex.

The Tigrex swung its tail around, Joseph rolling underneath it with the same aura as before.

Joseph once again attacked, only for the Tigrex to attempt to charge at him.

Joseph lept out of the way of the charge, turning after landing to draw back an arrow as the Tigrex turned around to face him in another charge.

Joseph let the arrow go and turned to dodge again, the cycle looping again.

However, on the fourth turn Joseph found himself against a wall with no room to safely dodge.

If he jumped, at best he'd take a fair amount of damage, though there was no guarantee that it wouldn't be worse.

It was at that moment that Daimyo suddenly sprung up between them and blocked, the Tigrex being stopped by this.

The Tigrex swung at Daimyo and successfully connected causing Daimyo to slightly be pushed back and almost flinch despite his guard, but already found itself being shot at again, so it turned its attention to Joseph instead.

At that point, Daimyo's arms suddenly exploded "What the hell!?" Joseph thought "Blastblight!?"

Before Joseph could figure out what happened, the Tigrex charged forward again, when suddenly it was forced to crash into the ground by a fireball from above.

While it was distracted, Joseph checked out Daimyo's wounds and attempted to help him recover, as well as work out what was going on.

* * *

Ayano then swooped in and slashed it across the back with poison, before taking off into the skies again in a guerrilla tactic.

But, at that moment the Tigrex jumped through the air after her.

She turned to see it leaping, and prepared herself for damage, death staring her in the face.

But at that moment the Tigrex was hit from below by pressurised water, pushing it backwards through the air and causing it to crash back onto the earth, steadying itself.

The Tigrex looked affected, but soon healed off the damage.

At that point, Zino charged in an attempt to topple the Tigrex, but could barely push it back due to their size difference.

Zino jumped out of the way of one of the Tigrex's strikes, but this shot up rocks which connected and caused her slight pain.

The Tigrex attempted to charge forward, so Zino responded by jumping backwards and shooting out electricity.

Despite connecting, they appeared to do nothing.

It was at that moment that a hunter charged in from the side.

The Tigrex turned to face them but was too late and ended up getting pierced through the eye by a lance.

Alexandra quickly pulled back to join Zino.

The Tigrex quickly recovered and pushed forward once again.

It threw out rocks, with Alexandra and Zino both dodging.

The Tigrex charged forwards once again, directly at Alexandra, but Zino was able to hit with a tail uppercut before it reached her.

Zino flipped around and fell to the ground, landing slightly unsteadily.

Alexandra charged forwards, taking the offensive and piercing it multiple times.

Zino jumped back into the fray and pummelled the Tigrex with multiple hits.

The Tigrex then regenerated and lashed out.

Alexandra and Zino both pulled back, but the Tigrex pressed the attack specifically on Alexandra, striking out with its front-right leg, which was swiftly blocked by her.

The Tigrex then suddenly stopped, appearing to give up.

Alexandra suspected something was up and inspected her shield. A large amount of red smoke seemed to be rising from it, and it smelled slightly off.

"Wait…" She thought, thinking back to when Daimyo had been hit.

Joseph had immediately chucked a deodorant at him, as if noticing something that no one else had seen.

"Which means that… this is blastblight!" Alexandra had seen blastblight before, of course, but it had never produced this much smoke.

Out of fear and not having any deodorant she unstrapped her shield and quickly chucked it away.

Sure enough, within a few metres of her, the shield exploded.

Of course it wasn't broken, just damaged, but had she been holding when it exploded she'd probably be in a much worse state than she was now.

In an attempt to lose her current disadvantage of having no shield, Alexandra ran for where she threw it, but right then the Molten Tigrex ran between her and the recently discarded shield.

Alexandra stopped and quickly considered her options.

She could attempt to directly engage the Tigrex here, but she wouldn't last long without her shield and would likely die.

She could attempt to circle around it, but in her rush she would probably be attacked and without a means of defending herself would likely die.

She could attempt to run away from the Tigrex, but the Tigrex would run straight at her, so she would find herself faced with the same choices and would likely die.

Alexandra was afraid of the hypothetical checkmate she found herself in. She decided to take the course of action of running around it just because it was the most safe even if by a small margin.

But she found herself paralysed by fear. "Why… won't my body move?"

The Tigrex stood up so that it could slam downwards.

Alexandra looked at her death oncoming, fearing it yet feeling a small sense of relief that it would finally be over.

Suddenly Zino slammed into the Tigrex, knocking it backwards while aggressively howling.

Alexandra then suddenly snapped out of her state. "What was I thinking just now!?" She thought "As if I'd be happy to die in a place like this!"

Alexandra rushed forwards to grab her shield, before quickly pressing on the opening that had appeared as a result of Zino's attack.

The Tigrex then retaliated after being hit multiple times and taking three hits that would've been fatal with a strike forwards.

It connected with Alexandra's shield again, giving her no choice to discard it, this time likely for good.

But instead of throwing it towards nowhere, she had a specific target, being the Tigrex itself.

Not expecting this, the Tigrex took it square in the face, being completely blinded by the blast which destroyed the shield.

The Tigrex, while stunned lashed out, swinging around with its tail.

Unable to block and unable to dodge, Alexandra was hit by this and launched into a nearby wall.

She attempted to get up but fell to her feet again, unable to move properly. Just from that one hit, she was taken out "How... pathetic…" she thought, slumping into unconsciousness.

Zino attempted to strike at the Tigrex but was also quickly taken out herself by a single strike, luckily avoiding getting hit by any blastblight.

* * *

As the Tigrex got back up, now recovered, in an attempt to finish Zino, Anthony charged in with a strong hit to the face.

The Tigrex stumbled back slightly, not that fazed overall, but had its tail suddenly severed from the body by a great sword.

Surprised by this it fell forwards and was finally hit from above by a body slam from a Lagiacrus.

Wave released the charged up electricity from his spikes in the instant of the connection, causing extra damage.

He then pulled back as the Tigrex recovered, only to be hit once again by a hammer.

This time however, it was ready and struck out with some rocks, Riko rushing into defend with his great sword.

After the rocks had been deflected, Anthony was back on the attack again, Riko tailing just behind him.

Anthony landed a hit on the Tigrex, managed to get it to stop from the impact at which point Riko raised his sword into the air just above its head.

As the Tigrex regained sense, Riko brought his sword crashing down, cracking its skull and pushing it into the ground.

Riko attempted to hit again, but was struck by its tail lashing out in a spin.

Luckily, he wasn't too open upon being hit and was able to just about remain standing, but had no chance to attack as the Tigrex struck forwards once again, connecting with his sword.

Instead of giving up, it continued to attack, only layering his sword with blastblight.

Riko then suddenly dropped it and jumped back. The sword fell underneath the Tigrex and the blastblight took effect.

While the Tigrex took the brunt of the blast, it still managed to connect with Riko, engulfing him in flames and knocking him unconscious instantly.

Anthony attempted to rush forwards in an attempt to grab the Tigrex's attention after it regenerated, but he was already too late.

Luckily his intentions were fulfilled, the Tigrex post-regeneration focusing its attention on him instead of the easy-to-kill Riko, but he was at an disadvantage due to this.

The Tigrex boldly charged at him, Anthony just barely dodging.

The Tigrex continued to charge, but luckily Anthony was able to pull the fight to where he wanted it to take place this way.

As the Tigrex ceased its charging tactics and went for a more straightforward attack, Wave suddenly jumped in, once again attempting to hit the Tigrex with electricity, but was quickly thrown off and crashed into a wall.

The Tigrex pushed forward and got ready to pummel Wave further into the wall, but was cut off by Anthony hitting it from the side with the best swing he could manage.

This pushed the Tigrex back, but he was momentarily unable to dodge due to needing to recover his position / breath which the Tigrex took advantage of to knock him flying with a charge.

Anthony instantly passed out, assuming that he would die there. Wave attempted to push forward, but was hit straight in the neck with a front right hook, being sent falling to the ground, at which point he exploded. Luckily this wasn't fatal, but he wasn't well off, bleeding heavily.

* * *

The Tigrex once again attempted to finish off its opponents and was predictably cut off.

Sean fired down from above, at which point the Tigrex launched up rocks.

Azure swiftly dodged around them, but saw the Tigrex charging up the valley walls.

It then lept backwards at Azure.

Reacting quickly, Azure was able to dodge around it, but the Tigrex almost connected, just missing.

It crashed into the ground, but noticed something stick itself to its head.

The crag shot exploded, destroying part of its head, causing it to require regeneration once again.

It then attempted to take off into the skies.

Normally, Tigrex and had this one attempted to take off normally it would've had a tough time of it, likely getting pushed back into the ground, but instead the Tigrex chose to spring off of the ground.

It lept straight at Azure, narrowly missing him and Sean.

Sean attempted to shoot off a clust shot, which connected, but the Tigrex was unfazed, the shot connecting with its underbelly.

Now above Azure, the Tigrex dived downwards.

It was directly above them.

While Azure could dodge, he'd have to move at an incredibly high speed to do so.

Sean would have to cling to his scales or get flung off.

Sean was holding his bowgun, having just fired a clust shot.

He wouldn't be able to dodge in the time it would take Sean to get ready for the dodge.

Sean also seemed understood this, so he rolled off of Azure's back.

Azure was surprised, but managed to dodge the attack anyways, the Tigrex crashing onto the ground.

But, Sean was also on the ground, a few metres away from the Tigrex.

Recognising this, the Tigrex charged forwards.

Sean managed to get most of his body out of the way, but was slightly hit by the Tigrex, sending him sprawling forwards.

Sean looked up from where he landed, still lying on the ground.

The Tigrex turned to attack him.

As it charged forwards, Azure suddenly intervened, shooting out a fireball which connected with the head of the Tigrex.

Azure landed between the two of them as Sean got to his feet.

The Tigrex didn't give them a chance to recover, lunging straight at Azure.

Azure attempted to fight back, but when faced with an irresistible force he was stopped.

Azure got slammed into the wall by the Tigrex's entire body weight.

The Tigrex pulled back and repeated the motion.

It continued its repetitive, Azure taking more damage each time.

Suddenly, it felt something land on it side and was blown apart by a crag shot.

The Tigrex fell over and Sean ran over, as Azure slumped down.

"Shit…! Azure!" Sean thought, looking at the damage.

Luckily, he wasn't dead, and there didn't appear to be any blastblight on him, but what was important was that his right wing was broken.

Which meant that, he couldn't fly through the air anymore.

That was assuming that he was still conscious though, which looked highly unlikely.

The Tigrex recovered and lunged towards Sean, but was cut off by Ayano slamming it into the ground with a tail swipe.

The Rathian landed in between the two of them.

The Tigrex managed to get back up and lunged at Ayano.

The Rathian shot off a fireball, instead of dodging.

The Tigrex then attempted to run around.

The Rathian responded with a horizontal tail swipe.

There was a brief silence while the Tigrex planned.

Sean thought to himself while this was happening "That ****ing idiot, she knows it'd be easier to dodge and attack rather than defending me like this. I'm sure that thing's caught on by now, you need to change things up!"

The Tigrex got up and started attempting to run around the two again.

Ayano recognised this and went in for another tail swipe, anticipating the Tigrex's movements.

Suddenly the Tigrex changed its direction and lunged straight at Ayano.

Ayano was in the middle of a tail swipe, so while she could've dodged normally she had no way of dodging while doing this.

The Tigrex's attack was only interrupted by a clust shot from the sides, connecting with the Tigrex and launching it flying.

Sean then yelled "Don't worry about me, just keep attacking!"

Alicia was briefly confused by this, but decided that if Sean wanted her to change the plan then she'd have no choice but to.

Ayano already understood the command and flew straight at the Tigrex.

The Tigrex lunged at her but was responded to with a freeze shot from Alicia, at which point it was hit with a load of normal shots, Sean having entered siege mode.

The two guns continued to attack, Ayano staying back for the time being.

The Tigrex ran up the sides of the valley and jumped off, but was swiftly dodged by Ayano, but unfortunately that wasn't its intention.

It charged straight for Sean, who was quickly trying to get out of siege mode.

Ayano shot off a fireball, but it missed the vital areas and didn't faze the Tigrex.

Having no choice, Alicia gave the command to Ayano to dive in, exactly as planned.

As Ayano closed in she went for a claw swipe, but suddenly the Tigrex lept back.

Ayano didn't have time to react before she was hit by a full on body slam, Alicia being brought down with her.

Sean looked ahead at the Tigrex, thinking "Ah, so they must've felt at this time… huh?"

The Tigrex roared and charged forward, only for Sean to suddenly grab his bowgun and run forwards.

The Tigrex pursued, refusing to stop despite being battered by shots from Sean's bowgun.

Sean continued to dodge and shoot, refusing to stop.

The Tigrex launched off some rocks, Sean rolling out of the way to dodge them.

While he was in this roll the Tigrex charged for him.

Unfortunately, due to Sean's having been worn down over the course of this fight and the distance between the two, he wouldn't be able to dodge in time, but he had expected this to happen since the rocks were thrown.

Sean managed to land, giving him just enough time to load in the bullet he had on hand before the roll.

Which happened to be a wyvern's fire.

He quickly reloaded, barely any space between him and his opponent and the shot started to charge up.

Suddenly the Tigrex rammed into him at full force.

Sean was taken aback by this and almost launched flying, but just about managed to grab onto the Tigrex's back as he flew over..

He then slammed the gun down on the Tigrex's neck seconds before it went off, the Tigrex having almost no time to respond.

The wyvern's fire seared through its neck, burning straight through it and scorching the ground.

The Tigrex fell to the ground, writhing with pain.

Sean got off and already knew that he wouldn't be able to last for much longer.

The Tigrex was only half recovered, but furiously sprung to its feet and lashed out at Sean.

It connected with its front right leg, hitting him into a wall.

There was some blastblight on him as a result of this, so even if he was conscious after that hit he wasn't after the explosion.

* * *

The Tigrex looked around for anymore hunters, only to find itself surrounded by three hunters and three monsters.

By process of elimination this was Zach, Zappy, Ben, Plessy, Callum and Sanchez.

The first one to make a move was Callum, running straight for the legs.

The Tigrex lashed out at him, but was dodged around and stabbed through the stomach.

At that moment Plessy shot out a beam of pressurised water, connecting with the Tigrex and making it slightly unstable on its feet.

When the Tigrex attempted to move to get a better position of attack, it was hit by Zappy's mucus, greatly reducing its speed.

Ben then finally hit it over the head while in axe mode, which didn't do much but briefly stunned it due to its current weaknesses.

Finally the rest stepped in for an all out attack while it was weakened.

Callum didn't have any dash juice on him, but still managed to get a fair amount of damage done regardless.

The three monsters were able to get in some damage, but it was nothing major, mostly just revolving around hits to the chest or lower body.

The main sources of damage here were Zach and Ben, using gunlance and switch-axe respectively.

The gunlance was able to deliver piercing damage to the sides of the Tigrex as well as the occasional shell being thrown in.

The consistent source of damage was Ben, hacking and slashing away at the Tigrex's head.

Finally the Tigrex appeared to be recovering from its slowed state.

Zach used a wyvern's fire and Ben switched into sword mode for one last attack, Zach overheating his gun and Ben quickly burning through his phial.

Ben and Zach both hopped back as the Tigrex was finally able to get to its feet and began to attack.

Zappy attempted to pull off the same plan of attack again, and it was almost successful until suddenly the Tigrex started to roar.

The roar carried on for who knows how long, but Zach's ears were already damaged.

After the roar ended and he was able to look around again, he noticed that Callum was missing.

Soon after Sanchez disappeared.

Zach and Ben were now both on guard, standing in a formation where they and their monsters were scanning all four directions.

The Tigrex charged at Zappy's side.

The others turned to face him, but were pelted with rocks, which Zach quickly blocked, Ben dodged and the monsters were hit with.

Ben tried to run at the Tigrex, Plessy backing him up, but the Tigrex continued to charge forwards, moving past him.

Zappy just about rolled out of the way, but the Tigrex turned back around and charged again, this time being blocked by Zach.

The Tigrex was nearly completely stopped, but managed to launch off some rocks with its landing.

Zappy was briefly stunned, unable to shoot out any mucus in time, at which point the Tigrex pulled its head back.

Zach recognised this from moments ago and attempted to cover his ears, but ended up being sent flying backwards just from the force of the roar itself.

But, Zappy didn't move, due to his weight.

As Zach recovered he watched the Tigrex ram Zappy at full force, giving him no time to recover and dodge.

Ben then charged in, only to be easily stepped around and slammed down upon with a tail swipe.

He still wasn't done yet, though, but ended up being quickly taken care of with a turning strike, being launched away and exploding mid-air, still somehow alive.

Finally Plessy was hit with a combo of tail swipes and strikes, unable to dodge, and the blastblight took him out.

This left just Zach, who decided to wait.

The Tigrex ran towards him, but he stood firm, just managing to block the attacks.

But, his stamina wasn't going to last long enough to survive this fight, so on the third or fourth strike he dodged around and stabbed at the Tigrex.

"If I can just last until my gunlance cools down… I might be able to do this!"

But, a weapon that could only live up to the second half of its name wasn't a match for a monster like this.

Zach attempted to repeat the cycle, but on his dodge the Tigrex swung its body around, slamming into him with a tail hit.

Zach was knocked to the ground and quickly attempted to recover, but to no avail as the Tigrex battered into him at full force, the only thing the attack was lacking was a build up of speed.

Zach attempted to get back up again, but ultimately unable to rise to his feet. He slipped into unconsciousness, falling to his own weakness.

The Tigrex moved for the kill, only for the last standing hunter and monster duo to stand between them.

* * *

Joseph spoke "Leave the others out this shit. Daimyo and me… we're the two that survived your attacks. The ones who somehow managed to escape. I'm not sure why ya kept either of us alive, or how we even managed to live that long, but after that time… I decided on my purpose. We've experienced what ya can do firsthand. That needless destruction… it was like a second nature to ya. If you're alive, all you're gonna do is kill. So, to stop ya from killing anyone else… we're gonna be the ones to kill ya!"

The Tigrex seemed to smile. It moved its mouth "Very well, then."

There was a long silence between the three. Finally it was broken by Joseph saying "I knew it… ya could talk, couldn't ya? ...ya fucking bastard."

* * *

Finally he took to the attack, drawing his weapon and shooting straight for the neck of the Tigrex before it could roar.

The Tigrex was taken off guard, stumbling slightly backwards, which Daimyo used to rush forwards and hit him with both of his claws at once.

The Tigrex recovered after a brief pause and suddenly struck out, clashing against Daimyo's guard.

The blastblight was about to explode, when suddenly a deodorant was thrown over the shoulder of the Tigrex.

It connected with Daimyo's claws, getting rid of the blastblight.

Joseph grinned "Ya think the only thing we were doing while you were fighting the others was healing? Hell no, we were gathering! Now ya can't you use your explosive attacks, anymore!"

Joseph thought to himself "Good, we need to keep it under the impression that we've got the upper hand here. If I keep on negating the blastblight, then it'll learn that there's no point in hitting with it anymore. Even with that, gotta be careful about how I use em. Only got four left, if it catches on then we'll really be screwed."

* * *

The Tigrex then turned its back to Daimyo and charged at Joseph.

As the Tigrex closed in, the blue aura that had previously surrounded him flared up again. The front of the Tigrex's head briefly connected with it, at which point Joseph took off into a jump almost instantly.

As he flew back through the air he pulled back on his bow and shot off multiple arrows.

The Tigrex crashed into the mountain, briefly getting stuck.

The arrows rained down, sticking into its head and causing it to appear to stop.

Still not having landed, Joseph looked around only to notice why the Tigrex had stopped.

It wasn't due to the arrows, it was to attack.

The Tigrex had dug its tail into the ground and dug it up flinging it straight at Joseph.

Having not seen this coming and currently being off ground, giving him no way of properly dodging it, he instinctively raised his arms to shield his own body.

It was at that moment that the attack was stopped by Daimyo, jumping between Joseph and the attacks.

The rocks were reflected off of his claws, hitting the Tigrex in return.

They both landed on the ground and Joseph thought to himself "Shit, that was close, good thing I got Daimyo to back me up. Still, those rocks back there were reflected. Why was that? I don't know why, but it bugs me. Normally they'd just connect and drop to the ground, but this time they bounced off. Ugh, I don't have the time to think about this, I gotta get back to the fight!"

* * *

The Tigrex recovered and charged forwards again, straight at Daimyo. Daimyo blocked the strike and the Tigrex almost seemed to bounce off of him, before striking out again.

Three strikes, in total all of which were unsuccessful.

The Tigrex briefly pulled back to find a new angle of attack, but in that opening Daimyo opened his guard and fired off a beam of pressurised water, connecting directly with the Tigrex and causing damage mainly to its body.

While the Tigrex attempted to recover from this, Joseph quickly threw deodorant onto Daimyo, getting the blastblight off of him.

* * *

 **Three left**

* * *

The Tigrex turned around and roared, catching both Joseph and Daimyo off guard.

It didn't hesitate, taking advantage of the few seconds it would take them to recover.

It ran directly at Daimyo and the moment it was closed enough it turned to have its left side facing Daimyo and performed a hipcheck, slamming his entire body weight straight into Daimyo's front.

Daimyo was greatly injured, Joseph could've sworn he heard a bone or two cracking, but luckily he managed to avoid blastblight.

Joseph was now able to move, but the Tigrex was right next to him and quickly slammed down with its front right leg.

The tremors briefly stopped Joseph, but he was still able to recover enough to dodge the next attack, being a charge forwards.

However, he was now on the right side of the Tigrex.

Joseph attempted to run to where Daimyo was, but the Tigrex quickly turned to throw out some rocks.

They weren't much, but Joseph's aura activated and he jumped back.

"Shit… gotta get to Daimyo!" Joseph though, running forward again, only to be cut off this time by a Tigrex running in.

Instead of running in between them, much to Joseph's horror it turned its attention to Daimyo.

Daimyo was first hit with a charge, the Tigrex just about being stopped.

Blastblight was now on him.

The Tigrex suddenly flipped around, hitting him with a tail swipe.

This was deflected, barely doing anything.

Joseph ran in to attempt to get the blastblight off Daimyo and threw a deodorant his way, hoping that it'd hit Daimyo and get rid of the blastblight, but at that moment the Tigrex turned to face him with a turning strike, intercepting the deodorant while doing this. Joseph was unable to dodge even with his aura activating due to the amount of distance between the two.

* * *

 **Two left**

* * *

At best, he was able to move most of his body out of the way.

Still, his right arm was trapped by the Tigrex.

Joseph looked up, unsure of what to do.

"He's already got blastblight on me there, so if I wait too long then my arm'll be blown off! But I only have so much deodorant left, so I need to use it sparingly. The hell am I thinking, I can't drop my illusion of the upper hand just because I'm running low, here it'd work out horribly! Still, even if I get out of that, I'll still be pinned by the Tigrex with no way out, so I'm pretty much screwed. At this angle, I can't properly get a hit in at its leg, so should I just sever my own arm? I mean, I won't be able to use my bow properly, melee attacks only at best, but it'd mean that I'm still alive. At that point I might as well let the blastblight take effect… shit! The hell am I gonna do!"

While Joseph was busy frantically weighing his options, the world was still moving.

The Tigrex lowered its head, opening its mouth.

Joseph suddenly noticed this and grabbed an arrow he had nearby.

He slammed down into the Tigrex's head with it, the attack only amplified by his aura. The Tigrex's skull was pierced and Joseph had clearly damaged something, but the Tigrex didn't stop.

It was at that moment that Daimyo ran in and hit the Tigrex with a strong jab and shot out pressurised water once again.

The Tigrex was pushed up and Joseph quickly rose to his feet, ignoring the pain, so that he could apply deodorant to Daimyo just before it took effect and himself.

* * *

 **None left.**

* * *

Joseph froze up for a second attempting to plan things out.

"If that thing even hits with blastblight once, then the gig will be up."

Some slight fear showed on his face, but he had to suppress it.

The Tigrex rushed forward and attempted roar, but was cut off by Joseph pulling back multiple arrows and launching them straight into its throat.

The Tigrex gave up on this and charged forwards, both of them dodging around it.

Joseph shot off some more arrows, which got lodged in its side, but seemed to have no effect.

The Tigrex turned to run straight at Daimyo.

"Shit… why would it focus on Daimyo? Did this thing see through us!?"

Daimyo wasn't that mobile, but he could block, but against blastblight this was practically useless.

As the Tigrex ran towards him, Daimyo suddenly dug into the ground, completely disappearing.

Joseph recognised this and shot off an arrow.

It connected with the Tigrex and bounced off.

Suddenly, the Tigrex noticed something else about it.

There was a sonic bomb tied to it.

It went off, stunning the Tigrex, at which point Daimyo jumped out of the ground from beneath it, toppling it.

* * *

Joseph ran closer to the Tigrex to attempt to get more damage in while it was toppled, but the Tigrex leapt back onto its feet, far quicker than he expected.

Apparently enraged, the Tigrex moved much faster than normal.

Within seconds it had closed in on Joseph, not even giving him a second to respond.

His aura activated, but it wouldn't be nearly enough for him to dodge the charge.

Joseph saw his death oncoming, no matter how much he tried to fight it.

Joseph turned to attempt to dodge, even knowing that it would do nothing, when suddenly Daimyo jumped in between the two.

The Tigrex hit Daimyo with a charge, already leaving blastblight on him.

It then struck out again and again, unrelenting with its strikes.

The entire time Daimyo stood firm, refusing to fall to the Tigrex.

Joseph stood their shocked, unable to respond to this.

Finally, the Tigrex roared.

It was not stopped.

Daimyo's guard was lowered, and the Tigrex hit him with a full-body-slam knocking him back several metres, where finally Daimyo collapsed to the ground.

* * *

The Tigrex moved in for the final hit, when suddenly Joseph snapped back into action, apparently brought back into reality by the impact of the hit.

He took the Tigrex of guard, with a strike straight to the face with his arrow.

The Tigrex fell back slightly, but instead of backing off Joseph only used this to press his attack more.

* * *

One strike.

Two strikes.

Three strikes.

* * *

Joseph refused to relent, his aura making every attack a brutal hit to the Tigrex.

* * *

Four strikes.

Five strikes.

Six strikes.

* * *

The Tigrex attempted to strike back, only to continue to be cut off.

* * *

Seven strikes.

Eight strikes.

Nine strikes.

* * *

Joseph finally pulled back on his bow, his aura activating in full force.

It circled him and seemed to also surround the arrow.

Joseph pulled back and just as the Tigrex had finally recovered from the previous hit he released it.

The aura followed the arrow the entire way, leaving Joseph's body.

It first pierced the Tigrex's right eye, going straight through that and further in, connecting with the Tigrex's brain, almost completely destroying it and flying straight out the other side.

It connected with the wall nearby, cracking it.

* * *

 **Ten strikes.**

* * *

The aura finally dissipated and seemed to rejoin Joseph's.

The Tigrex struggled to recover.

Its brain was brought back from the brink, followed by its right eye.

But the left eye didn't recover.

Joseph moved to pursue, his aura surrounding him, but the noise of an explosion rang out, coming from where Daimyo was.

The aura completely disappeared and taking this chance, the Tigrex slipped away, being forced to drag some of its limbs along.

* * *

Joseph ran over to Daimyo and found him looking incredibly weak.

"Daimyo!" he briefly yelled, running closer.

He checked the wounds.

This was bad. His claws were broken to start with, badly burnt by the explosion and the rest of his body was covered in bruises.

"Don't worry," Joseph tried to sound reassuring despite his panicked state "I'll fix you up, buddy."

He checked his pouch for any healing items, but he found that they had all already been used up.

Joseph's panicked state increased.

He looked around for a miracle, but all he saw was blood and fallen hunters.

Joseph started to panic more, when suddenly Daimyo managed to move his right claw just enough to put it on Joseph's shoulder.

Joseph realised what the was trying to convey by this.

Daimyo appeared tired.

Joseph started to yell "Daimyo, don't close your eyes! Please, whatever you do just stay awake!"

Daimyo was drifting away, with nothing Joseph could do to stop it.

"Daimyo! Please, don't die on me! I need you! We need to go kill that thing together!"

His panic increased even further, to the point where his breathing became ragged.

"Daimyo! Don't go! Please, Daimyo!"

Daimyo closed his eyes.

There was a long silence as Joseph attempted to process what happened.

For the first time in what seemed like years, he cried.

All the while, the blue aura encircled him, only burning stronger.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Note: The last scene should be read while listening to Irreversible Sadness from the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable OST. At least, that's what it was written to.

I really don't have much to say this time, I'm already over 7K and I don't wanna wait much longer before updating (seeing as how I'm already late)

I'm sorry if the aura was kinda confusing, it'll be explained soon enough but just know now that it was somewhat based off of brave style from MHXX, just with my own twist to keep things interesting.

Like seriously, that's it. I need to start work on the next chapter, so that it won't be late like this one. See you in two weeks, with any luck.


	13. Post Final Hunt

When Joseph woke up, he got the sense that a while had passed.

He wasn't sure how long, really it could be anywhere between a few hours or a few days.

What was important is where he was, a completely empty house.

He was lying a bed, covered in bandages.

He tried to remember what had happened.

Going up the mountain, finding… that beast, fighting it and then…

He suddenly snapped out of his trance and lept to his feet, but the moment he touched the ground he suddenly collapsed and found himself struggling to even get up.

He fell with a loud thump, which was heard from outside, seeing as how Ben walked in.

"Hey…" He muttered "If ya woke up ya should've said something instead of going and doing that…"

Joseph suddenly cut him off with a desperate gasp "Daimyo! Where's Daimyo!?"

There was a long silence which told everything, but to elaborate on the details outside of this everything Ben replied "When we came to, he was already gone. Not only that, but ya were there right next to him, completely out of it."

There was a long silence while Joseph took in what had happened.

Ben continued "Anyways, after that we travelled down and found the end, a lot of us ended up hospitalised, it was just me, Anthony, Alicia and Callum who were able to still move afterwards. Since we didn't know when ya were gonna wake up, we had to go ahead and bury Daimyo. I'll take ya to where we did that in a bit. Also, when the doctors took yer armour off, they found that ya were completely completely covered in burns. They had no idea how it could've happened and we silently decided that it was for the best if we didn't mention that shit we saw back there with those blue flames surrounding ya.

"Ah… got it… I should probably explain what th was, shouldn't I-"

"Don't bother with it just yet, I'm curious, yeah, but it'd be more

convenient if ya just waited for the others to get back before ya did."

"Wait, where are the-"

"Recovering mostly, ya gotta remember that I wasn't messed up as badly as most of them were, all the ones who aren't recovering are in court right now."

Joseph looked momentarily shocked until he recalled the quest paper.

They weren't allowed to attack any monsters of a 6 star threat level and above.

The Molten Tigrex… was a 6 star.

Which means that… in his own damn selfish revenge plot he not only managed to get Daimyo killed, but now everyone was going to be facing criminal charges because of him.

Joseph felt more than terrible, but he was quickly interrupted by Ben. "Anyways, worrying about shit like that at the minute'll do ya no good, so just hurry up and get back to sleep, you need to recover from that."

Joseph suddenly got up, somehow shaking off his own damage. "No point, I'm fine."

Ben was visibly confused "Seriously, what's up with all this sudden bullshit yer pulling…"

* * *

Zach looked at the courtroom scene in front of him.

The man who represented the prosecution spoke out "Your honour, these hunters went out of their way to attack the Molten Tigrex, something directly prohibited by the quest conditions."

The defense responded with "But my clients have explained that this was a simple act of self-defense, due to the fact that upon being discovered the Molten Tigrex attempted to attack them. Had they chosen not to fight, then by now they would be dead."

"Still, why is it that they discovered the Tigrex to begin with?"

"That much is simple. After having hunted a Seregios that they mistakenly assumed to be the cause of the monsters disappearing from the Ancestral Steppe, they were instructed to go and inform the other hunters who were on the mountain. By the time they got there, all of the hunters had already been murdered by the Tigrex. They witnessed this scene and were then attacked and from there the rest is already known."

There was a tense silence.

The judge banged on the gavel. "It appears that there is nothing left to discuss about this incident. The nine hunters are charged with self-defense against a monster, their sentence shall be-"

Suddenly, the door slammed open.

"Hold it!" Joseph yelled out.

"The others shouldn't be punished. They simply moved in to protect me… because… I was the one who first attacked the Tigrex!"

There was a lot commotion until the judge banged on his gavel.

"Before anything, could you please state your name and occupation."

"Joseph Gilmore, HR6 hunter. Anyways, I'm here to testify about what really happened up on that mountain."

Joseph started with his experience back at Tanith Village and how that was destroyed, before explaining his other reasons for holding grudges against monsters like that Tigrex, giving himself a motive for the attack. He then went on to testify about his aura and how that assisted in the defeat of the Tigrex. However, to match his own spin of events, all instances of the others interfering were to protect him and Daimyo was only moving based off of his person orders, as opposed to free will.

The court was in silence after all of this was over.

Of course, the concept of an aura was ridiculously outlandish, something that had not existed in the other testimonies. But the motive presented and the way in which the fight had gone was far clearer and more logical than what had been established previously, meaning that without further discussion Joseph's testimony could not be accepted or denied as the truth of the incident.

In the end, the judge suspended court for a day, due to the defense and prosecution having new information that they needed to incorporate into this case, as well as to investigate the reliability of these aura claims.

* * *

After it was over, Ben ended up showing Joseph where they had buried Daimyo.

It was a fairly small headstone.

On it was written "In memory of Daimyo. Born 1330. Died 1346. A well beloved and true companion."

There was a long silence, as Joseph sat staring at the grave.

It was like looking at it repeated a thousand times what he already knew.

Daimyo was dead. No matter how long he lived, no matter how much he did, no matter how much he wished, that fact would never change. He was never going to see Daimyo again.

There was a long silence between the three of them there.

After a while, Zach spoke, interrupting Joseph from his internal conflict.

"Hey, Joseph. Why is it that ya suddenly tried to get all the blame onto yerself back there?"

"...Guess I'm not even too sure myself. Well, here's what I think. We're all gonna be punished unless I do something, right? I can tell that you guys are covering for me by leaving out the fact that I attacked first as well as the aura stuff, which I don't think ya should be doin'. I was the one who attacked first. This was my fight. I was the one who started the fight, it's just that you guys protected me. I was… the one who caused Daimyo to die…"

Zach suddenly grabbed him "Hey! Ya can't seriously be tryna get yourself in prison just cause Daimyo, died, right!? First off, it was that thing that killed him and second, that thing's still out there, ya know!? Yer seriously just gonna let it run free!? I mean, I'm not sure if anything ya said back there was true or not, but you've been huntin' it down for years now, right!? So then, why the hell would ya just let it go now!?"

"...Well it's not that… Yer damn right, I do wanna beat the shit outta the ****er, but… I don't want ya to be punished just because I did that shit! I mean, it's fine this way. Ya won't get it that bad so… afterwards, just forget about me and go live yer lives. As soon as I get outta there, I'll be free. Remember, I left out the Tanzia thing. So they won't have any reason to kill me, I'll be out in under ten years, probably. They might experiment with the aura a little, sure, but it won't be anything that'd risk my life or somethin'."

There was another silence until Joseph got back. "Where are the others? I figure now's as good a time as any to explain all this aura shit."

* * *

They went back and after gathering up the others, Joseph finally began to explain.

"To be honest with you, I can't exactly say that I understand it much myself. Whenever an attack comes near me, that thing activates by itself and it's like by instinct I know which the best way to attack is. Like, predictin' movements and shit. Normally though, it's inactive. Only comes out whenever I end up thinking of that damned beast."

He stopped for a second.

"One of ya, try and hit me."

Ben stepped forward slightly reluctantly and threw a punch.

As it neared, the blue aura once again flared up around Joseph, causing him to drop back slightly to dodge the attack before sweeping forwards once again, throwing a punch straight for Ben's face with a bewildering speed.

Just before connection Joseph managed to stop himself, seeming to struggle somewhat.

There was an unanimous thought which ran something like "Whatever that was, it wasn't normal and it was certainly something powerful."

"Once I start on it, it gets pretty difficult to stop. Not only that, but there's something else to it, the thing that I used to beat that Tigrex back. Sometimes, when I'm in a bad spot, I feel something whispering in the back of my head. It's not really saying anything, but I feel like it's offering stronger power. If I let it, then it's like I completely lose control. Not like I'm not moving, but for some reason, the only thing that's on my mind is killing my opponent. That's all I think about. The entire world becomes just that, in that instant. Usually it doesn't stop until they're dead, but I guess that time I was lucky, and I was at least able to make sure that me like that wasn't the last thing Daimyo saw of me…"

"Wait a minute." Alexandra said "I know that that berserk mode is something dangerous, but still, why is it that you only started using it on that last fight? That power's strong, so I'm sure that if you practiced with it enough you'd have a way easier time then you normally do-"

"I was scared."

"Hey, Zach, Ben, Callum, I dunno if any of ya remember this, but I sure do. It was back 3 years ago, when we were first starting out as hunters. Back then, I was still using a long sword, seems far off, doesn't it?"

* * *

It was raining down in the flooded forest.

It was difficult to see, but a thunder flash revealed the outline of two large flying wyverns.

The hunters were in the process of hunting a Gobul, but while pursuing it had ended up accidentally treading into Rath territory. It was spring, so at this time they'd be highly territorial. While it was unusual for them to make a nest in a swamp like the Flooded Forest, it wasn't unheard of .

"Don't worry, I got this!" The one with bright blue eyes yelled out.

Seemingly not caring about the risks, he sprinted forwards, reaching the Rathian.

She took a swing at him, before being swiftly dodged around, an aura activating around the hunter.

Joseph found a good position before jumping forwards once again, stabbing into her stomach.

The Rathian attempted to attack once again, seemingly unfazed by this.

But, it was too slow, simply being countered again.

All the while, Daimyo followed from the sidelines, unable to be too involved in the fight due to the sheer speed and range of the one he was meant to be fighting alongside. But at the very least, he could use pressurised water.

The others fought against the Rathalos, but it was a slow battle.

Eventually, both battles were in their climax.

At this rate, the Rathian fight looked like it would be a close victory and the Rathalos fight looked like it would be a close loss.

Joseph didn't notice this, completely absorbed by finishing his, though not yet in a state of absolute focus on it.

The Rathalos appeared briefly stunned from a hit to the head.

Everyone rushed in to attempt to attack, but Zach felt something was off.

He looked at its eyes and found, instead of a general confusion and cloudiness, a strong intent to kill.

"Wait, pull back!" he yelled, but at that point the others were already too close.

The Rathalos, faster than before, lept up with a vertical tailswipe, hitting the hunter coming first with the strike. It then struck at the monster following up on the attack with a claw strike, hitting them onto the ground and injuring their body.

It then took off further before the remaining two could react, shooting down a powerful fireball. This hit the monster, before another two were shot out.

The dual blades user dodged one way, only to be cut off by the first. He jumped backwards, but was then in the range of the second, unable to do anything about it.

In the end, it was just Joseph, Daimyo, Zach and Zappy left.

Noticing this, Joseph regrouped with Zach.

"Okay, yer probably not doing too good, right? So, let's change our targets. I'll take the Rathalos and you take the Rathian."

Before even waiting for a response, Joseph rushed forwards.

Despite his apparent energy, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get through the fight on his own strength.

So he chose his other strength, surrendering to the aura.

He had a comfortably familiar lack of control.

The Rathalos fought back against him, the battle being completely even.

Joseph could definitely win in terms of speed, but if the Rathalos were to take off into the air there'd be nothing he could do to stop it.

If he let up on his attack, it'd take the advantage.

So he continued to stick near to the sky king, even if it meant that he wouldn't be able to do as many powerful attacks as he could. For instance, he couldn't use the full spirit combo due to the recovery time that would be required after the final hit, so he couldn't increase his attack anymore than it was already increased.

Unfortunately, this also meant that he had to work out a way of quickly ending the fight, as he would only get weaker as it dragged out, not even considering tiredness.

Zach was managing to hold off the Rathian, but obviously he was unequipped to properly be able to fight it off.

Joseph continued to press the attack, unconcerned with anything outside of this.

Slash, then back off and slash again.

Roll round the attack, strike.

Pull back then slash.

At no point was there a distance of over a metre between the two, locked in an endless cycle.

The Rathalos roared, briefly stunning Joseph, but doing nothing else.

"Hmm, so if he didn't do anything, then that probably means he's calling on his mate for help. Well bring it on, then, I'll just have to counter it!"

Joseph felt a presence enter his aura.

Instantly, he moved to attack, knowing full well that it'd near fatal.

As he moved he heard a voice.

"Hey! Get down!"

He realised the voice was right behind him, where the attack should've been.

But, he was unable to stop, the aura moving his body by itself.

He connected with the chestplate of the armour first, slicing straight through it and into the chest of the hunter underneath.

The attack finally stopped before his neck, but it had certainly dealt damage.

The hunter he had hit cried out in pain.

Blood flew through the air.

Zach crashed to the ground, barely conscious.

Joseph was briefly stunned by this, the aura completely disappearing.

It was like the world had frozen.

Joseph then realised why Zach had tried to stop him.

The Rathian had shot out a fireball.

If he'd tried to hit to hit it, it obviously would've gone wrong.

But, he didn't know that at the time.

He simply perceived the gesture of help as an attack.

Joseph was too stunned for his aura to even activate, causing him to be hit by the aura.

Zappy attempted to tackle the Rathian but was brushed aside with a tailswipe.

The Rathalos moved in to hit him with a fireball, but was blocked off by Daimyo.

It moved in to attack, taking him off guard with a tailswipe and eventually taking him down with a claw strike to the face.

Joseph snapped out of his shock and stood up.

He looked at the two Raths as he surrendered himself to the aura one last time.

When he finally snapped out of this state, he was left with the two corpses he had mutilated.

Rain fell down, washing away the blood.

* * *

"My aura… it can't tell the difference between friend and enemy. It just hits whatever the hell enters it. Back there, I was lucky, cause I wasn't at a good enough angle for the attack to kill instantly, but if I had hit him with something stronger…"

There was a silence.

"After that," Joseph continued "I got rid of my sword, sold it. I used the money I got to build a bow and gunner set, so I could change my fighting style to focus more on teaming up with Daimyo. I figured that I could stay back and Daimyo could be my shield. If Daimyo was on the front lines, then I was at no risk of hurting anyone. Though with time, I came to rely on him for pretty much everything. Maybe if… if I'd relied on him less, then he'd still be here…"

Another silence rang out.

"Well anyways, I'll be heading off now. I got to get to court tommorow so that I can be found guilty so… see ya round, I guess."

The court started up once again, with Joseph standing there.

Zach and the other two were watching, not saying anything.

The defense made an opening statement "Your honour, after much research it has been found that the defendants were indeed attacked first, contrary to the claims of Mr Gilmore, and no information could be found to support the supposed aura he speaks of."

"I see, does the prosecution have anything to say on this matter?"

"Regrettably, I also could not find any evidence to support any scenarios other than self defense, nor could I find evidence for the claims of having an aura. Mr Gilmore's background has been checked and he was telling the truth on why he could have a motive, but there is no other solid evidence pointing to his version of events."

Joseph tried to object, but was quickly cut off by the judge.

"I see. So then, with all this considered, the original version of events does appear to be the truth. So, for this, I will order a three year ban on setting foot in the city of Dundorma for all nine of these hunters, as well as a psychological evaluation of Mr Gilmore. That is all, this court is now adjourned."

Joseph tried to argue some more, even yelling that he could display the aura, but was quickly removed before anything could be done.

The ban would be enforced at the end of the month, which gave them five days after this one to leave.

Joseph didn't really have that much that he could do, so he decided to sleep and think.

The next day, he went up to the other three.

"So… I've been doing some thinking. I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking of going on my own when we leave Dundorma. I'm not sure, I just think it's just that I wanna get stronger. If I stay with you guys, then I feel like I'll just end up relying on ya again. So, I'm gonna go off on my own and I'm gonna get strong enough so that I can control my aura, and then I won't have to rely on anyone again. Whatever you guys wanna do, I dunno, but that's just what I'm gonna do."

After some thinking, they decided to do the same. Because back then, against that Tigrex, what they experienced was something akin to true fear.

They were weak, so unless they did something to change that then, they'd be stuck like that forever.

They'd go to wherever was next and hunt for a while, until something changed and they moved on.

This cycle had to be broken somehow.

The other hunters agreed.

Alexandra agreed because she felt that same lack of strength, as did Sean.

Alicia didn't really agree, still choosing to follow Sean, but she'd still try to improve, as her own powerlessness there certainly was something she wanted to improve.

Anthony felt something similar but mostly didn't want to be left out and forgotten.

Riko decided as a result of the majority.

So it was decided that they'd leave now, go on their own ways, and come back to Dundorma in three years, where they'd try to get through the ranks with a newfound power and speed.

After that was all sorted, Joseph gathered up some materials and money and went to the smithy, where he placed an order for a new weapon and armour set.

* * *

"So, that's what happened, in the end." Alexandra finished, speaking to Zenya in a pretty much emptied tavern.

"Hmm… I see, then. So, what're you planning on doing on your last few days here?"

"Dunno, haven't really got anything planned. I'll probably just end up getting a new shield made and fix my armour.

There was an inevitable silence that they both dreaded, before Zenya finally decided to say "Y'know, it's not too late. You can still go and visit your dad if you wanted to-"

Alexandra suddenly cut her off "Sorry, but there's no way that's happening."

"You can't keep on running like this! You know that you're the only successor he has left! I understand that you want to be a hunter, but you're just being unreasonable about it-"

"At that time, on that mountain. I was way too weak. Even with Zino by my side, all it took was a few hits for me to go down. That thing… it was way too strong for me. So, I think that just shows that I'm nowhere near the strongest. I'm not running, I've already said that. I'm just going down a different path that he wants me to. I need to become the strongest, it's as simple as that. So, no matter how much you try to convince me, I won't acknowledge him."

Alexandra walked to leave before there could be any argument.

"Anyways, farewell. I don't believe I'll be coming back for a while."

Zenya was silent for a while. She thought to herself aloud "Hopefully by the time you get back you'll be able to finally face him. I understand what you're doing, but you can't just keep on fighting like this for the rest of your life. Still though, those hunters you teamed up with, they kinda remind me of them…"

* * *

Anthony thought to himself "Shit, where am I gonna go now. I can't go back home yet, so I gotta find some place where I can make money somehow." he continued to walk through the crowd, frantically trying to work something out.

* * *

Riko sat alone on a roof, looking up at the sky. "Shit, and here I thought I'd finally found a group…"

* * *

Inevitably, the day came and everyone set out.

The other five went on their separate ways, leaving the four Loc Lac hunters behind.

There was a long silence that rang out between them.

Finally it was broken by Zach going "So I guess this'll be the first time in years that any of us have been on our own, huh?"

"I think it's the first time in our hunting career." Callum noted

"Damn, that's a while, isn't it? Three years… it's been a long time but it hasn't felt like anything." Ben continued

"Still, though, I guess that's the way it is. Kinda weird that we're gonna be gone as long as we've been doing this, though I guess that gives us a lotta time to get strong." Joseph finished.

"Speaking of," Zach asked "You got the new gear you ordered yet?"

"Yeah," Joseph answered "Got it back at my house, I'll stop by and pick it up before I leave. Don't worry, when you see me again three years from now I'll definitely know how to use it properly. This time, I won't just ditch it."

"Hold it. One last thing" Zach said.

"?"

"Thinking back to that time, I always figured that it was one of the Raths that did it. Learnin' that ya did it was kind of a shock to me."

"Yeah... sorry. I just figured that if I didn't mention it then the three of ya would soon forget about the aura. Though I guess I was wrong..."

"Yeah, covering up the aura like that was damn irresponsible..."

"...I know."

"Well, how 'bout this, when we get back, we won't have any more secrets, ya hear?"

"Eh?"

"Ya heard me right. Secrets like that shit and the aura shit, all they do is cause bad shit to happen. So from now on, no more secrets!"

"Yeah, that does seem right."

"To be honest with ya... I don't think I've forgiven ya for that yet. So to let me do that, make it so that yer someone worth forgiving!"

"Got it." Joseph replied, slighly more motivated.

There wasn't much left to say, so the four set out, ready to see each other in three years.

Joseph got geared up and decided to go visit Daimyo's grave.

He sat there for another while, seemingly reflecting.

Finally he left Dundorma, headed northeast.

The sun was in the sky, it around 11.

Once again, Joseph thought to himself.

"At that time, I think I've worked out what was bugging me. The reason the rocks deflected and the Tigrex's lighter strikes did. I looked into it, and sure enough, that's something that normally happens with a Stonefist Hermitaur. Which means… Daimyo was deviating. If he had lived a little while longer, maybe only six months, then he could've gotten even stronger. That future… that future is something that I stole with my over-reliance on him. If I had just been stronger, then I'm sure that he'd still be alive, at the minute. Maybe… that's something that could've happened. Well, this is the result of my failure. I can't change what's happened, no matter what."

He finally drew his weapon.

A khanga edge, built from the parts of the Seregios that they killed.

Daimyo's last hunt.

The blade glistened, the light reflecting off of its scales.

His armour wasn't exactly the greatest, a simple Yian Kut Ku set built from what he had lying around, but it would have to do for the minute.

"The best I can do now is to get strong and make sure that I never lose anyone important again. I'll get stronger, as strong as I can, and then I'll kill that thing and anything else like it before they can kill anyone else I care about. Standing atop the corpses of all the people I cared about, I swear this."

Sheathing his sword, having brought it out for no really reason other than it fitting the moment, he set off, heading to wherever he was going to end up.

* * *

Fallon stood alone in her office in the Guild Headquarters, the highest place in Dundorma.

She looked out across the city, bustling with energy at this time of day.

She remembered how the hunters she banned would be leaving today.

"Hmm, that bow user, he truly is fortunate. Had he been unable to testify about his own aura in time, then right now he and his companions would be getting a far worse punishment."

She paused briefly

"It's a shame that I had to go and do that, but you're still counted as a normal hunter for the time being, so it's the most I could get away with. Still, I hope you too will view it that way and use it as a chance to improve upon your aura. After all, it's in your nature as an aura user. That immortal Molten Tigrex, it was quite a feat to take down. Though I guess that makes sense, having investigated your history. It's a shame those others from Loc Lac don't appear to have it, though perhaps that incident was only good enough for a power increase, not an awakening. Even so, considering your history with that Daimyo Hermitaur, this little incident should've increased the power of it even more."

She thought back to the writings she found a while back.

"All those who pursue their vengeance will be able to rise above all others in strength, but are destined to die for the sake of their vengeance."

It was incredibly vague and poorly worded, but Fallon understood well what it meant.

She smirked, thinking about her own plans

"So long as that Molten Tigrex lives you'll continue pursue it, so then, with it still being alive, I wonder how much stronger you will be able to grow before you can finish it off, monster taming grudge holder?"

 **END OF PART II**

 **TO BE CONTINUED IN PART III**

* * *

So yeah that was kind of a long chapter, but hey, we finally made it to the end of the first part (which is also part II, because the original DBA is part I)

Hopefully it went alright, I think it was definitely uneven in terms of quality. I also probably should've spread out the plot focused chapters some more, like the past four were plot focused when really it should've only been three.

That last scene took place entirely in Fallon's thoughts, because it'd be weird for her to talk to herself.

A lot of the explanations from both her and Joseph were probably kinda confusing, so I hope it'll make sense when I've cleared everything up over the course of the series (unless I abandon it).

Well still, I'd be interesting in what you think is the deal with the aura just from that, so if you want to then post in reviews I guess.

Speaking of reviews, it'd probably be helpful to learn what you liked and disliked about over the course of this arc, so I can try and work on that over the course of the next of the next arc.

So stuff like character writing, fights, style of humour, style of writing. What was passable and what was shitty, basically.

Finally, since I have a stats exam coming up this month, and this is a final thing, like it's GCSEs shit so I wanna focus on that, so there won't be a new chapter out on next update.

Also because end of arc, I mean it just makes sense.

Hopefully after this I won't need to take another break for a while, but who knows I guess..


	14. Rekusara, 1346

**December 29th, 1346.**

 **9 PM**

* * *

The village of Rekusara was silent, all the energy of the day having died down.

A masked man laid his eyes upon it from the distance.

He remembered how he had seen the the two hunters fly in this general direction on the backs of their wyverns.

"Looks like I've finally found you." He muttered aloud.

The monster that he was riding atop started to charge off, headed for the village.

* * *

 **December 30th, 1346.**

 **8AM**

* * *

The sun rose, and Sean walked outside.

He looked around as the village began to start up again, facing another day.

The last day of the year.

As he was taking this in, he heard a noise in the distance.

He suddenly jumped back as something crashed into the ground just next to where he was.

Without missing a beat, Alicia looked up from where she was, seemingly not caring about this.

"Good morning!" She yelled at him, only to get an unenthusiastic "Mornin'." in response.

The two then walked off to go choose a quest to do. After picking one, they went to the pub to get something to eat.

Finally walking outside, they found themselves faced with a man wearing full armour.

He had a strange type of bowgun strapped to his back.

"It has taken months of searching, but it appears as though now I have finally found you."

Sean thought for a second, recognising the voice.

"Now then, prepare yourself! For-"

"Mornin' Matt."

"..."

"..."

"Hey Matt why're ya wearing that weird armour and talkin' all fancy like that?" Alicia asked.

"Um… I thought that it'd look cool." He turned to Sean "...Why'd ya hafta go and ruin it like that?"

Sean lightly shrugged, not really having a proper answer.

He figured that he should explain inside his head, just in case there was anyone observing who didn't know what was going on.

* * *

"So yeah, this is Matt. He's from Yukumo back in the New World, grew up around the same place we did. I dunno, not that much can be said about him. He's pretty much an average guy. A little too normal if you ask me. Like his normalness is abnormal. But yeah, he generally hung around the two of us. It seems like he could be popular if he tried, like maybe try and be a little less passive, but for some reason he's just like us, which is kinda weird."

Matt then spoke "So uh… anyways, what's up, I guess?"

"Not much. I mean, right now, we're just kinda goin' from place to place, seeing as how we got banned from Dundorma and all."

"Hold it a sec! How the hell'd ya get banned from Dundorma and shit!? You were only there what, a few months odd, weren'tcha!?"

"Well yeah, y'know, a few crimes here and there…"

"Why the hell do ya sound proud…?"

There was a silence until Alicia went "So, wanna go on a quest with us?"

Matt responded with a "Yeah, sure." that was meant to sound surprised but due to his lack of disguising skills made it quite clear that this was what he'd been hoping for due to his enthusiasm.

So, the three set off into the desert, going to hunt a Cephadrome.

* * *

As they entered the hunting zone, Matt looked across the desert.

He then snapped his fingers, which was followed by nothing happening.

Matt paused, momentarily reconsidering.

Matt snapped his fingers again, attempting to get the attention of something.

After the fifth try he stopped.

He then started yelling random things into the desert, nothing occurring again.

Finally, after about five minutes he pulled out his bowgun and fired off a shot into the sand, causing something to shift.

A Diablos lept out of the ground, roaring angrily.

Instead of being able to gain the upper hand in this argument, the Diablos instead found itself being angrily yelled at.

"Seriously, Klaus! I was tryna go and go for a cool introduction and everything! Why the hell'd ya have to go to sleep!? Yer settin' a really bad first impression, y'know!?"

He then stopped and then turned to the other two.

"This is Klaus, he's my monster."

"...Yeah, I kinda guessed..."

* * *

They moved further into the desert and found themselves in area 5.

Sean suddenly stopped them and pointed forwards.

The sand was moving slightly.

Which meant that there must be something underneath it.

They were about to get ready to fight, but Matt stopped them.

He then signalled to Klaus, who appeared to be paying attention this time around.

Klaus dug into the ground and disappeared.

At that moment, Matt began running, yelling "You guys follow me from above ground!"

With that Sean and Alicia got onto the backs of their Raths.

They flew forwards, Matt blindly running forwards without even having drawn his weapon.

Three Cephalos jumped out of the ground, but he wasn't so much as fazed.

Matt rolled through them and ended up with his back facing to them.

The Cephalos quickly recovered and attempted to turn around, running for him again. They were a fair distance away at this point.

Matt spun around, pulling his bowgun off his back.

Luckily, it wasn't folded, so he was able to prepare instantly.

He loaded multiple lvl 3 normal shots.

The Cephalos were now only a few metres away.

One shot was fired, connecting with the one on the left.

The other two reacted with some slight surprise, but instead of thinking to back off they continued to press, assuming it to be lucky.

A second shot was fired, narrowly missing the one to the right.

Matt fired again, not missing this time.

Unfortunately though, he didn't kill it.

It pressed the attack again, but Matt instead decided to shoot to its left.

This bullet connected with the Cephalos who happened to be leading due to not being slowed down.

The bullet caused near-instant death and it fell backwards.

The remaining Cephalos was hit the body of the recently passed down, causing it to come a halt as it got caught by it.

Matt then shot off one final shot, which tore through the corpse and connected with the Cephalos, presumably killing it instantly.

Matt then began to reload, but in the middle of this he heard a noise behind him.

A Cephadrome lept out of the sand and would've gotten, had Klaus not lept out to intercept it.

The Cephadrome was sent flying across the desert, landing a few dozen metres away.

Matt reloaded and stood up, ready to get back to the fight.

* * *

But first, a brief explanation of Matt's weapon.

He was using a medium bowgun, a classification of bowgun where the weight falls between light and heavy. It acts as a neutral ground, having none of the major advantages and disadvantages of the other types.

While all bowguns are highly customisable, this one is majorly customisable as it can take aspects of both and use them.

It mainly found usage in the New World, especially in Loc Lac back when it was still thriving as a city.

Unfortunately though it hasn't found much usage afterwards, most people finding it fine to just go for one type or the other, but there are still people who prefer adaptability above all else.

The type Matt was using at the minute didn't need to be folded to be sheathed, saving him from the problem of wasting too much time getting ready. Though it was still like a heavy bowgun due to its high firepower and slow reload time, meaning rapid fire couldn't be properly used.

* * *

Matt began to run forward once again.

Klaus charged in front of him slightly, still going at around the same pace, at which point Matt lept onto his back.

He got properly seated and yelled "Let's go!", then Klaus pressed forward, running at full speed.

"He's really tryna show off, isn't he…" Sean muttered.

The Raths followed onwards anyways, reaching the Cephadrome.

When Klaus reached it, Matt jumped off of Klaus' back.

He ended up failing the landing slightly and stumbled a little, but managed to get to his feet, making it look like part of the show.

The Cephadrome lunged for him, but a bullet stuck to its face for some reason.

The Cephadrome didn't stop its attack, not that it could at this point, but the attack was stopped for it by the explosion that was caused by this.

It crashed to the ground, writhing with pain.

Klaus didn't stop because of this though, following it up with a charge attack.

The Cephadrome, despite its injuries, didn't stop from this, knowing full well that if it did it would be dead.

It landed and burrowed into the sand.

Klaus started to burrow to pursue it, but in that moment it leapt back out and shot mucus at Matt.

Matt was slowed down by this, unable to move nearly as well as he once could.

The Cephadrome then dug back down into the sand, moving towards Matt at top speed.

Matt now could barely dodge, and if he threw a sonic bomb then Klaus would be badly affected too.

"Shit…! I can't look bad here!" He thought.

He started to try and work a way out, when suddenly the sand where the Cephadrome was was assaulted by fireballs.

It flew into the air as a result of the Rath's attacks.

"As if I'd let you guys show me up like that…!" Matt thought as he quickly pulled out a nulberry and bit down on it.

The Cephadrome also recovered and attempted to fight again.

It dug into the ground once more, but this time Klaus wasn't anywhere nearby.

So he was free to use sonic bombs as he pleased, which he proceeded to do.

The Cephadrome was sent into the air for what must've been the upteempth time by now.

It didn't land any more successfully than before though, landing on its side.

It flopped around for a few seconds, attempting to properly gather its bearings.

The Cephadrome got back up only to find Klaus running at it again.

It dodged the hit but was pelted from the sides with more bullets.

This got its attention, followed by a shot from a crag shot, severely injuring it.

The Cephadrome was enraged and an easy target, but instead of charging it Klaus ran at Matt.

Matt then hopped onto his back and the two charged off.

The Cephadrome, still feeling enraged, attempted to pursue.

It ran straight at them from where it was positioned, just as planned.

As it began to sprint in order to get enough momentum going to just dig straight into the ground from a jump without stopping, the ground beneath it gave away as it fell into a pitfall trap.

The Cephalos fell into it, completely ensnared and Matt yelled out "NOW!"

It noticed that the Raths and their riders had landed.

Sean was crouched down and Alicia was ready for rapid fire.

Bullets flew along the desert aimed directly at the Cephadrome.

Due to its inability to dodge, they all connected.

Not only that, but the Raths were partaking in this too, hitting it with a barrage of fireballs.

The Cephadrome felt pain across its entire body, but it wasn't yet over.

Klaus spun around and began to charge backwards at full speed.

While this was happening Matt was perched on his back, shooting multiple normal shots at the Cephadrome.

The Cephadrome managed to break out of the trap, just moving a few metres away.

But by then, it was already too late.

Klaus rammed straight into it, sending it once again flying across the desert, this time dead.

Klaus came to a stop, sliding across the sand.

Matt had been desperately hanging on for the past few seconds now let go and attempted to appear cool as he put away his weapon.

The Cephadrome was then carved and they ended up getting back to Rekusara at around sixish.

* * *

Due to the fact that it was almost New Year's the village was full of energy from all the people trying to get home early to spend time with their families.

There'd also probably be a fair few people filling up the pubs pretty soon, so they'd have to hurry if they wanted to beat them to it.

So, they ate pretty early and found themselves without much to do at that point.

Since it was the near year, there'd be fireworks going off at midnight, so they figured they might as well go to see that.

They managed to climb their way up one of the cliffs with help with their wyverns, so they could get a proper view.

It was a fair distance away, but still probably good enough to see from.

Alicia realised that she'd forgotten some stuff at the bottom the cliff, so she decided to go down to get it.

* * *

Matt felt kinda awkward just sitting there in silence and tried to start a conversation.

"Kinda reminds ya of Yukumo in a way, don't it? Back there, they'd have fireworks going off at every event, wouldn't they? Even though it was stuck all the way out in the New World, we'd get people comin' round from round the world just to see that. Guess it was kinda common for us though, didn't think much of it all. Still though, I never realised how weird it was not to have them happenin' until I ended up leaving, so I mean there's something for ya."

A silence rang out slightly.

"Hey… it alright if I go on a sorta personal rant?"

"Well yeah, we gotta pad the chapter somehow, if we came back off hiatus with only 2K words the readers'd kill us." Sean thought, but he simply responded with "Nah, go ahead."

"Hmm, I'm not sure when the problem really started, but it really hit after I noticed things started to change. Specifically, it was after ya took Azure and flew off without a damn word. Next few years after that, Alicia seemed depressed as hell, y'know? She said it was nothing but it was pretty obviously yer fault. I still don't get that… to be able to just up and leave like that, not even thinkin' of the damn consequences and what yer gonna leave behind, it just doesn't make sense to me. And then, little while after that, she met that Rathian and did the same damn thing. To be fair here, she didn't just sneak off, but still, I just don't fuckin' get it. The hell causes somethin' like that. So, I guess that's why I'm here. The thing I want more than anything is just a normal life, the way it used to be. But for some reason, you guys decided to leave, and now it's gone. I don't get it, so I guess the reason I was tryna find ya was to work out what caused that. The hell is it in this world that can just cause a random flash like that, one so strong that you wanna drop everythin just to chase it? That's what I'm lookin' for. Though funny enough, even though I found ya, here I am now, doing nothin' but going on this long ass story."

He then paused in thought for a second. "Oh yeah, speakin' of which, what was Alicia's Rathian called? She didn't name it before she left Yukumo, so has she done so now? I mean, it'd be kinda awkward to ask her herself..."

"Ayano." Alicia said, randomly appearing behind him.

Matt was startled by this and instinctively jumped forwards.

"How long were ya there for!?"

"About two seconds, why?"

"Oh… okay then."

"Still though, Ayano, that's her name. Ya really shouldn't find it awkward to ask though, it's fine, I mean it makes sense ya wouldn't know."

"Yeah…" Matt turned around "Oh yeah, the fireworks should be startin' now, shouldn't they?"

They turned to face the village as it hit midnight.

* * *

The first firework launched into the sky and exploded, sending colours flying everywhere somewhat spectacularly.

Then two more followed, being less spectacular.

A few more fireworks shot off, not really doing much.

A final firework shot off, being only slightly better than the first.

The three felt kinda underwhelmed, but that was to be expected, seeing as how they'd been expecting it to be similar to a village that had half of its popularity made up by its fireworks shows.

Even so, they ended up going back and decided to go to sleep.

* * *

Matt woke up at around 10 AM, on the first day of the New Year.

He looked around for the others but couldn't find them.

He was about to give up and go to eat, until he saw two Raths flying off in the distance.

One blue, one pink.

There appeared to be people on their backs.

He paused for a moment, almost denial, before sprinting back to his hut, gathering up all his stuff, checking out of the hut and running towards Klaus.

He threw his stuff onto his back and Klaus set off, charging through the desert in their general direction.

When Klaus was nearby he yelled "GODDAMNIT!"

"Oh, hey Matt, what's wrong?" Alicia asked.

"Why the hell did you assholes leave me behind!?"

"Eh? Weren't ya gonna stay back there?"

"No! I wanna join yer hunting group thing! So don't leave me behind!"

"Oh… I just assumed that ya were stayin' back there, like as a side character or something... sorry."

So, the three hunters and three wyverns set off into the desert, going to wherever they would end up next.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

I'm back, ready for part 3, I guess.

Unlike my other chapters after coming off hiatus, this was more of a normal length chapter, since while this one was important for a sub-plot next one is gonna be important for the overarching plot. Of course, so is this, but this won't play into the focus of the end, so I mean there's something.

As for why this is first? I decided that I'd play out this arc in chronological order of events just to keep things from being confusing, so as this is only 2 months into the 3 years, it makes sense as opposed to almost a year like next chapter is gonna be.

Also here's something pointless I wanna address on the off chance someone asks. So you might notice that back in his rant to emphasise his point Matt uses the word "Fuckin'", now normally, this wouldn't be a big deal for anyone above like 10, I mean if you've ever talked to me you'd know I swear like a man of the sea, but here I hadn't done that until now, opting for asterisks in its place, kinda like what the games do as I found out on day 1 of MH4U. I figured it'd be funny, though now I'm getting knee-deep into serious plot and it feels outta place. So I mean, if you're super opposed to swearing and shit, then sorry 'bout that, I just feel like it'd make sense to have them. Though no need to worry, I'm not gonna become some edgelord fic or something, I'm sure someone else can do that for ya.

Also I hope I can make this fly with a T+ rating, because if I put this onto M it won't get onto the main page by itself, then it'll really be dead…

On that significantly pessimistic note, I say bye.


	15. Bherna, 1347

**July 14th, 1347**

 **10 AM**

* * *

The town of Bherna was starting to get moving, now that sun was well into the sky.

A hunter woke up in his hut and looked up at the ceiling for a few minutes, attempting convince himself to get up.

Eventually he managed to, just barely.

He strolled through the town, looking for any quests, his weapon slung over his back, despite the fact he was just wearing normal clothes.

* * *

He walked over to the quest counter and started to read through the list, when four injured hunters stumbled into town.

Their armour gave the impression of low high rank hunters, ranging from monsters such as Purple Gypceros or Gravios.

The Guild Girl approached them and asked what was wrong.

The one in the Purple Gypceros armour "It was a Nargacuga. I'm not sure what we did to provoke it, because it attacked us while we were simply gathering up in area 4… Luckily, we managed to escape, but that thing's still out there…"

"Wait… are you badly hurt? Do you need help removing your armour?"

"Oh no no, I wasn't that badly hurt, I'll be fine, really."

"But still though… usually Nargacuga stay in the jungle. This one must be quite aggressive to go and do something like that… it looks like we'll have to issue a quest to hunt it…"

The hunter in plain clothes then suddenly cut in saying "I'll go."

"Oh, okay then. And your name is?"

"Joseph Gilmore." He grinned.

The Guild Girl then checked his hunter's license to make sure he was qualified for the quest, and then once this was checked Joseph went back to his hut, got suited up and headed out to the Jurassic Frontier.

* * *

His armour was a full Nargacuga set.

"Did I really need to do this…?" He lamented to himself "I just kinda signed up for it in the moment cause I wanted to look cool in front of the Guild Girl… Well still, maybe I can use the parts to upgrade this set, I guess… Also taking an urgent should win me over some points with the guild, and maybe with her."

He felt slightly better, so he headed out of base camp and headed into area 4, figuring that'd be the best place to try and find the Nargacuga.

Walking through, he found the place to be completely peaceful, like nothing had ever occurred to begin with.

He started to look around for any traces of where the Nargacuga could've went, but all he could see was the footprints of the hunters leading out of the area.

He heard a roar a short distance away and turned to run towards it.

* * *

Joseph entered area 5, to see a Nargacuga looking around.

He attempted to approach it silently, but it noticed him out of the corner of its eye.

The Nargacuga quickly spun around, its red eyes leaving a trail of light on its path and pounced straight for Joseph.

Joseph narrowly rolled underneath it and spun to draw his weapon.

The Nargacuga landed, pausing for a second before launching itself forward off of its back legs once again.

This time, Joseph hopped backwards, clearing the Nargacuga's left wing before striking down and slashing at its body.

The Nargacuga briefly reacted with pain, but was able to take a swing at him with its tail.

As it neared him, a blue aura suddenly flared up around Joseph.

He stepped backwards, avoiding the first strike entirely.

The Swift Wyvern wasn't done yet though, pulling backwards in an attempt to go for another attack.

Joseph, or rather his aura, had anticipated this though,

As the tail lashed out, Joseph stepped past it and leapt forwards. He first landed on the Nargacuga's back, but then used that for his next jump.

He landed directly in front of the Nargacuga and slashed.

Before he could, the Nargacuga attempted to swing around to avoid the strike hitting the worst possible place and instead had it connect with its arm.

It felt some slight pain, but wasn't done with its motion yet, still going.

The Narga's tail swung straight at Joseph.

Even though his aura activated, there was nothing he could do at that minute, due to having just finished the slash attack.

Joseph was hit backwards by this, just about managing to hold on to his weapon.

He briefly stopped from the pain, before sheathing his weapon rushing forwards again.

* * *

The Nargacuga jumped around him this time and attempted to leap forwards after landing, only to be rolled past.

Joseph got up once again and attempted to attack the Nargacuga.

He got a hit on its side, but the wyvern quickly spun around to attempt to strike at him.

The Nargacuga slammed down with its left wing, but Joseph stepped forwards into the attack.

His long sword was still drawn, so he stabbed forwards with it.

The Nargacuga felt a fair amount of pain this time and attempted to flip around.

Joseph ducked, barely dodging the attack.

The Nargacuga landed and then jumped backwards, much to Joseph's surprise.

He started to stand up when the Nargacuga pulled its head back, inhaling as much oxygen as possible.

"Ah shit." He thought, covering his ears in preparation for what was about to happen.

The Nargacuga let out a massive roar, stopping anything nearby in its tracks.

It finally stopped and Joseph was able to uncover his ears, but he wasn't able to do it fast enough to respond to the next hit, being a full on body slam.

His aura did activate, but to no effect.

* * *

The Nargacuga slammed him against a wall, where he tried to regain his senses, but the Nargacuga didn't give him any time.

It stabbed forwards with its tail, aiming directly for Joseph's head.

Despite being out of it, Joseph was just about able to see this coming.

Not really thinking, he drew his long sword and swung straight for the tail.

While he didn't have much space, he was somehow able to hit at the right angle so that the strike was stopped.

The Nargacuga seemed somewhat annoyed by this, as instead of going for the more lethal but less reliable tail strike it went for the more reliable but less lethal sidewards body slam.

The Nargacuga pulled back, while this didn't give Joseph enough time to dodge due to how weakened it was it gave him time to prepare for the counter.

The wyvern slammed into him, causing even more pain. He dropped his weapon as a result of this, but his left hand remained firmly closed, just about.

He was now pinned against the wall again.

Feeling slightly better, the Nargacuga decided now was a good time to try a more lethal but less reliable tail strike.

But, at that moment, it felt pain around its back area.

* * *

The pain was sharp.

There was a second's pause, before whatever was stabbed into it was pulled out.

It was then stabbed in again, at a slightly different location. This time, the Nargacuga really felt the pain.

It didn't stop though.

Joseph continued to use his hunting knife, desperately stabbing away at the Nargacuga.

At some point, inbetween attacks, the Nargacuga pulled backwards.

It swung around with a tail swipe, which Joseph didn't have the time or energy to react to.

It slammed him into the wall, but instead of choosing to follow up on the attack the Nargacuga jumped away.

Joseph took advantage of this moment to drink a potion.

He felt relieved, though he still wasn't fully recovered.

Joseph then ran to pick up his sword and assumed a fighting stance, as if challenging the Nargacuga to attack.

The offer was taken without much thought.

* * *

As the Nargacuga closed in, Joseph moved without his aura even activating.

The Nargacuga just missed him, so Joseph slashed at it as it passed by.

It stopped, and swung its tail around in the air.

The tail slammed into the ground, shooting out spikes.

Joseph managed to dodge most of them, but one or two lightly grazed him.

He then took to the attack again, sprinting forwards.

He stabbed forwards, but the Nargacuga jumped back to dodge, attempting to go for a tail swipe, but this was dodged with a fade slash, though unfortunately this swing failed to hit the tail, connecting with only the ground.

The Nargacuga saw this chance to attack and pounced forwards, but before it could connect Joseph's aura activated.

Joseph jumped backwards and now the Nargacuga was left open.

Figuring now was a good time, Joseph first swung his weapon around his head, hitting the Nargacuga's side.

He then swung it around in the opposite direction, a perfect mirror of the previous motion.

Next he swung diagonally upwards and to the left, quickly followed by a horizontal swing to the right and then finished by pulling his sword back and going for a downwards vertical swing.

Joseph paused for a second, before going for a roundslash.

The Nargacuga attempted to escape the attack, but was unable to escape the range, taking one final hit from the spirit combo.

Joseph felt like he now had the advantage and attempted to further press the attack while on this high, but the Nargacuga hastily retreated, leaping off of the cliff that led into area 8.

Joseph attempted to pursue it, but it was already gone, disappearing into the jungle below.

He sighed and drank another potion, feeling his adrenaline levels drop back to a normal amount, before heading out again.

* * *

He descended further into the jungle, finding that his target was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, somewhere between area 10 and 11, he found a wyvern corpse.

Specifically, a Nargacuga corpse.

Whatever they died of, it sure as hell wasn't a natural cause.

It was fairly logical to assume that this was linked to the Nargacuga going around attacking everyone, but how exactly it was linked was still a mystery to Joseph.

He thought about it for a little while and then finally resolved himself.

"I'm can't be sure that I'm right, but if I am right then this'll work out damn well."

* * *

He walked a little further into the jungle, where he heard a noise behind him.

He turned and saw the Nargacuga from earlier, ready to attack.

It lunged forwards and Joseph used his aura to dodge around, just about resisting the impulse to counter.

This continued for a little while, until the Nargacuga snapped out of its rage to realise something was up and stopped attacking.

Joseph then said "Hey, wyvern bastard. I think I get what's goin' on here, so if ya follow me I can fix it. So quit tryna attack me already."

It seemed to understand, so it followed Joseph back into base camp, where he left it there to go to Bherna.

While he was there he said the quest was failed and asked some questions, just in case he was wrong.

After hearing what he needed to in order to make his theory seem more likely, he went back to the Frontier, got the Nargacuga and they set off.

Unfortunately Joseph wasn't able to ride it due to the fact they were basically strangers, so he had to run really fast.

* * *

Eventually, a few dozen miles down the road, they found a cart being pulled by some Aptonoth.

"There it is-!" Joseph thought, running up to it.

He ran up to it "Hey, stop for a sec!"

The driver stopped the Aptonoth.

Joseph ran up to it, then suddenly collapsed.

The hunters inside looked at him "Um… are you okay?"

Joseph used the cart to try and stand up slightly "Yeah… just a minute…"

"No seriously, you look like you're super tired and shit…"

"Well I guess I would normally but I don't accept help…" Joseph looked up in an attempt to appear intimidating despite his state "from criminals!"

He then pushed himself and up and managed to remain standing a few metres away.

* * *

Joseph really wanted to just sit down and recover for a few more minutes, but after saying that he'd lost the chance to.

The one who was driving the cart spoke first.

"Oh? What do you mean by that, exactly? That's a pretty heavy accusation to throw at someone you just met, isn't it?"

"Well, the thing is, we've already met. Specifically in Bherna. The four of ya were the hunters who were apparently attacked by a Nargacuga unprovoked. So, after Ya reported this, I set out to hunt that Nargacuga and found some pretty interesting stuff."

"...Like?"

"Well, the thing that really stuck out to me the most was the corpse I found. A Nargacuga corpse, to be specific. Right next to an empty nest."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"I'm gettin' there, but here's the thing that was weird about all this. The Nargacuga was clearly killed by something, she had wounds all over her. If it'd been a monster, the corpse would've been eaten, but it wasn't eaten at all. If it'd been a hunter, the body would've been collected by the guild. So that only leaves one possibility, doesn't it?"

"So you're saying that they were killed by poachers…"

"Yep, exactly what I'm tryna say."

"Well still, why would the poachers only kill the Nargacuga? I can't exactly claim to be an expert on what they do, but if they were planning on killing a monster they'd take the parts, wouldn't they?"

"Well, they must've had another objective in mind, right?"

"So, I'm guessing that you know what this was, then?"

"Yup. Right now, we're in the Summer, right? So, seeing as Spring was just ended, it seems a little bit weird that an female, adult Nargacuga would be completely on their own when they died, right?"

"So they must've had cubs. These poachers had the aim of stealing those cubs for some reason and to do so, they killed the parents. Then they made off with them. That's what you're saying, right? Well, what exactly does this have to do with the Nargacuga that attacked us? The Nargacuga that was killed must've been the mother. I don't know too much about them, but I'm fairly sure that only the mother raises the young, the father leaves only a few days after she gives birth to them."

"Well, here's the thing. Nargacuga usually prefer to give birth in the Spring, but if they were late doing it, then the cubs'd be born late, wouldn't they? So, if in that case, the poachers must've killed the mum and stole the young, which the dad found about and was kinda pissed about, so he started hunting them down. He must've either not seen them or just been going after all hunters in his quest for vengeance though, seeing as how he went after ya as well. At least, that'd be how the case closes if that was all there was to it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it's just that I think yer a bunch of liars."

"Hey now, you can't just keep throwing shit like this at us, y'know?"

"Well don't worry, I've got the evidence to break yer testimony. So then, according to what ya said, ya were attacked by the enraged Nargacuga in area 4 somewhere between the hours between the hours of 9 and 9:30 AM, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. It's what we figured the time would've been, seeing from how long it would've taken us to get back to town."

"Well that's pretty weird, seeing as when I passed through area 4, there wasn't any evidence to say that there was a battle there. Usually when there was hunters in the area only a few hours back, ya would be able to see the evidence of a battle, wouldn't ya? Judging from yer injuries, I doubt ya escaped unscathed, right? So then, it seems kinda weird that there'd be no damage to the surroundings of this apparent battle."

"Well is that it? It's not much, quite baseless."

"Also, we can assume the Nargacuga died recently. My reasoning for this is pretty simple, the corpse wasn't in too bad of a state other than the wounds. Ya tend to get smaller scavenger wyverns in that jungle, so they would've picked away at that corpse had it been any older than… I'd say about 12 hours. I guess even larger wyverns wouldn't pass up a meal that easy, so maybe 3 to 12 hours. Still, that isn't much, is it? Since the Nargacuga was on its rage then, the death was probably about an hour or two before ya were apparently attacked at the most. The only reliable way out of the Jurassic Frontier is through base camp, so the poachers would've likely gone that way. So, if that's true, they'd only have two ways of getting there. One of those ways goes through area 4, where ya would've been. Even if ya weren't there when they escaped, they would have also had to go through area 1 and 2, so it seems unlikely ya could've missed each other."

"Well still, that's quite weak. Anything else?"

"Well it's not only that. It takes about hour to get from town to the Jurassic Frontier, right? So, if yas got to Bherna around 10:30, I should've been there around 11:30. I found the Nargacuga in area 5. Ya realise what that means, dontcha? If what yer sayin' is right, then it would've only moved on 1 area in a full hour. Considering that it was pursuing with such anger and force, it seems unlikely it could've only gotten that far. Of course, it could just be retracing its steps, but that seems kinda dumb."

"Well… what exactly are you trying to say with all of this?"

"Well, it's obvious, ain't it? I'm saying that the four of ya are the evil poachers. First, ya fought the mum. In this fight, ya were injured a fair bit, but probably not too badly as ya still managed to kill her in the end. Nest, ya took the cubs. Something I should've mentioned is that when I fought him, he was injured. I'm guessin' this as he backed off after only a few minutes of fighting. So, what I think happened next is that he found ya and ya fought. He was also losing, but he backed off before the fight could end. The four of ya were injured as well, so instead of attacking ya chose to try and escape. Ya moved through the Frontier and left by going through area 4, which is why yer footprints were there, which is why when ya got back to town ya used that as your explanation."

The driver gave him quite an intent stare and the hunters in the cart looked somewhat tense, so clearly this meant something.

The driver then snapped out of it.

"Okay, I can understand why you would suspect us now, but there's one major flaw with this. Why would we go back to town? If we were trying to escape, then surely we wouldn't go straight through the base of the Wycademy, would we?"

"Well, that's pretty simple. Ya didn't want to appear suspicious. I mean, ya were already in Bherna. If ya just suddenly disappeared without a word, I'm sure the Guild would do some searching into ya and I'm sure that they'd find something… interesting."

"..."

"Not only that, but I can say how you did it, too."

"Go on, then…"

"Well, it's pretty simple."

Joseph pointed to the one wearing the Purple Gypceros armour.

"Ya used him."

"What do you mean?" The driver responded, sounding slightly irritated.

"Well think about it, the Purple Gypceros is quite bulky, there's a load of free space inside, ya really need to be well built to get the most out of it. Ya couldn't just bring some box into town, that'd be investigated for sure. But what wouldn't be investigated was yer armour. So, what I'm tryna say here is that ya put those tiny cubs inside of yer armour, then snuck through town with them. Then ya quickly took off and left before anyone could find that Nargacuga corpse and raise any potential questions."

"What… makes you think this…?"

"Well, yer injured right? Back in town, when ya were injured, the Guild Girl offered to help ya get your armour off. But, ya refused, almost a little too quickly if ya ask me."

"...Hey, is that it? You seriously thought you could accuse us of a crime worth the death sentence with just that alone? That's real pathetic, y'know?"

"Well, if I'm wrong, then let me investigate a little here. Lemme check yer armour, if you're so innocent."

So, with some slight hesitation the hunter with the Purple Gypceros armour on removed it, though he needed to be helped by the others, and Joseph inspected it.

He found nothing.

"Wait… they probably moved them while they were on the road. Yeah, it'd be kinda bad if the cubs woke up while they were travelling, that makes sense."

* * *

As Joseph realised his mistake, the driver said "See, nothing. So, then if you don't mind, we'll be leaving now."

"Waitwaitwait! Ya probably hid in yer stuff, right? So I gotta check there first, then I'll leave."

"Please be right…!" He thought, opening the first box he picked.

Inside he saw some sleeping Nargacuga cubs.

"Ha! Ha ha ha! I've caught ya, damn poacher bastards! Now, surrender and we'll head back to tow-"

Joseph felt his aura activate.

He followed it, just dodging a lance strike aimed straight at his head.

"Oh… yeah, that figures."

* * *

Joseph then dodged a shot from a bowgun, before being attacked by a dual swords user who he mostly dodged but was unable to do so fully, being cut a few times.

Joseph jumped off the cart but the dual swords user didn't let up.

He kept on chasing him and basically had Joseph on the ropes, until being hit by a tail swipe and knocked flying.

"Ah!" Joseph thought, as the Nargacuga passed by him and lept at the cart.

The lance user attempted to strike at him, but completely missed and the Nargacuga got onto his right side.

The Nargacuga pounced straight for him and knocked him out of the cart.

Not done yet, he continued to pursue, hitting with a tail swipe and then another leap.

Finally, when the hunter was down, the Nargacuga slammed his tail down onto him, just to make sure he was down.

The bowgun user attempted to use range to her advantage, entering siege mode, but the Nargacuga turned and leapt the distance in an instant.

The gunner attempted to jump off the cart, but ended up putting herself in a worse place than before, as the Nargacuga wasn't aiming to destroy the cart, just land near it.

After having been crashed down on by the full weight of a Nargacuga, the gunner was unconscious, leaving only one left.

The driver tried to run, but the Nargacuga quickly caught up to him and took him down with a tail swipe.

The driver managed to cling to consciousness long enough to see Joseph.

"Hey… can you help me out, here? I mean… we're not bad people… we're just doing what we have to in order to survive, just being a hunter really isn't enough to keep us going… really, you've gotta understand, right?"

"Well yeah… I think I get it, but honestly I don't really care. Only reason I'm here is to fight for what I think is worth fighting for and to me... yer not really worth fighting for."

Joseph then brought down the sheath of his sword down on the man's head, knocking him unconscious.

The Nargacuga moved forward to attack again, but he was stopped by Joseph.

"I get that ya wanna kill them but... don't, there's no point. I'm sure that those bastards did a terrible thing to ya, but if ya kill then the Guild'll probably keep their eyes on ya. So for now... let's just arrest 'em."

* * *

So they got back to the town with the poachers with them, explained the whole situation and the poachers were put into a temporary prison, waiting to be transferred to Verudo Prison.

That was the last Joseph heard about them, he wasn't able to piece together the full story in the end.

He got the Narga cubs and they were released into the wild alongside the Nargacuga.

Something rarely observed in Nargacuga is that if the mother dies and the father's still around, then he will take the responsibility of raising them. This was obviously the case here.

Joseph didn't have much else to do, so he'd come and check on how they were doing every now and then over the course of about a year.

A fair amount happened

The cubs grew larger and more independent

Joseph asked out the Guild Girl but got rejected as she wasn't into hunters, as it's way too dangerous of a job.

In general, things were just relaxed.

And then, finally, after the Winter was over, it was 1348.

The Nargacuga cubs were now almost full sized and they were independent by now, so they all flew off, ready to go live their own lives.

* * *

Joseph watched them leave and the turned to the Nargacuga.

"Welp, that was certainly something. I'm probably gonna leave town in a few days to go somewhere else, wanna come with?"

The Nargacuga figured he might as well.

They walked out of Bherna, headed northeast once again.

There was a brief pause and Joseph said "Hey, lemme on yer back."

The Nargacuga didn't really understand, but Joseph tried to climb on without an answer and he pretty much understood.

"Now, go!" Joseph yelled.

This one was obvious and the Nargacuga took off into the sky.

This was his first time so high up while not falling, so Joseph had to take in the sights for a minute.

Before him was the entire landscape.

He could see the Jurassic Frontier nearby, stretching out for dozens of miles.

Beyond that were roads, open fields and finally off in the distance some mountains.

It was quite a sight to behold.

He felt the Nargacuga flap his wings below, keeping them in the air.

Joseph thought for a second.

"I guess I haven't given ya a name yet, have I?"

There was a few seconds pause.

"What about… Nargy? It's not much, but it should do, I guess."

He took in the sights for one last time and pointed towards the mountains.

"Now then, Nargy, let's head that way!"

Nargy took off at an incredible speed and Joseph fell off.

Nargy then had to fly back around to catch him.

Joseph wasn't really used to flying yet, so Nargy had to control his speed somewhat, even then Joseph was still clinging on for dear life.

But still, they were getting somewhere.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, there's another chapter down.

Don't have much to say, so here's some things I should probably cover.

Keep in mind this series is set past the games, which is my excuse to change things whenever I want.

So first off, Bherna. In Gen / Double Cross, it's a small village that has stuff to do with the wycademy, but here it's ranked up to a town due to Dundorma being more focused on hunting. So it's more focused on wycademy stuff. A fair bit of the Jurassic Frontier has been explored but not much, it's still pretty big.

As for "Verudo Prison" it's a place I mostly wanna cover in the future, but just for now know that the armoured city isn't just being used to keep monsters out, it's also being used to keep criminals in.

I kinda wanna do a thing where I cover random bits of my own lore at the start of chapters, but this part of the story isn't really for that as not enough's been introduced, so for now it'll have to stay down here.


	16. Nodecoh, 1348

**May 11th, 1348.**

 **10 PM**

* * *

Nodecoh, a town in the South El De District.

That was where Zach and Zappy found themselves.

Zach strolled through the marketplace, somewhat absentmindedly.

He didn't even know why he was here.

This place wasn't really near any dangerous hunting grounds, so the most he could do was gather.

"Damnit…" he muttered "Why'd it have to be three years, I'd have been fine with just one. There's seriously nothin' interesting 'round here."

As he contemplated his own existence, he heard a yell in the distance.

"Stop, thief!"

"Oh hey, this could be something" Zach thought, running towards it.

Upon arriving the scene, he found a merchant looking somewhat distraught.

He asked where the thief went, the merchant pointed to the left and upwards.

Zach got Zappy's attention and they climbed onto the roofs.

In the distance, Zach could just see a figure, so he pointed that out to Zappy and he set off after them.

They approached and Zach yelled "Stop, or we'll have to use force!"

The thief didn't stop.

"Well, can't say we didn't warn ya." Zach thought, as Zappy shot off mucus.

This connected with the thief, slowing them down greatly.

Still, they continued forwards.

Zach then got off of Zappy's back and leapt forwards, not yet unsheathing his weapon.

He closed in on the thief, when suddenly there was some orange in front off of his eyes.

He then found himself running the other way.

Zach stopped himself and attempted to turn and run towards the thief, but all he found was himself running away some more.

"Wait, I must just be confused, so all I've got to do is the opposite."

He then yelled "Zappy, run in reverse!"

So Zappy did this, but by the time they got to where they were the thief had already escaped, never to be seen again.

Zach thought to himself for a second, before loudly yelling "SHIT!"

Zach then went home, giving up on everything.

* * *

 **May 14th, 1348**

 **9PM**

* * *

Zach strolled through town again, still here for some reason.

He'd pretty much given up hope, but then suddenly he heard someone yell "STOP, THIEF!"

Zach got Zappy's attention and the two took off sprinting.

He ran to the distraught merchant, asking only "Where?".

The merchant pointed and off they went, onto the rooftops again.

The thief noticed them and tried to speed up, but was slowed down.

Zappy saw orange but instantly began to run backwards, propelling himself forwards.

Zach then lept off Zappy's back, headed towards the thief, only to see a blue beam.

He saw this for a few seconds, before everything went black.

The thief watched Zach crash into the ground face first, fast asleep.

Then Zappy also fell asleep just behind him.

The thief then escaped.

* * *

 **9:15 PM**

* * *

Zach woke up and began yelling angrily again.

* * *

 **May 19th, 1348**

 **9 PM**

* * *

Zach strolled through town, waiting.

He heard the word "STOP" and ran.

He found the merchant and asked "WHERE!?"

He then went onto the rooftops, Zappy following.

They found the thief, became confused but didn't care.

The beam hit Zach but he didn't care, running right through, for his armour had negate sleep as a skill.

He closed in on the thief, only to be randomly hit with something yelling loudly, hitting the floor and blacking out.

He woke up a little while later and began yelling loudly, in a similar fashion to what had hit him.

* * *

 **May 21st, 1848**

 **9 PM**

* * *

Zach ran through town, hoping for any sign of crime.

He heard a yell and instantly got into the rooftops with Zappy.

He chased after them, inverting his running and passing straight through the beam and picked up on what was flying at him, then dodged around it.

Finally he reached the thief and ran straight towards them.

Until the roof beneath him gave away and he fell down.

By the time Zach had climbed back up, they were completely gone.

He didn't even say anything this time, just sulked.

* * *

 **May 24th, 1348**

 **9:03 PM**

* * *

The thief ran along the rooftops, having just stolen from a merchant.

"They're late…" Zach muttered, already on the rooftops.

He started to give chase.

Zach ran in the opposite direction, straight through the beam, dodged around the attack, watched his step on the roof and finally found himself caught up to the thief.

Finally he got a good look at them.

The thief was a woman in her late teens to early twenties, with black hair and brown eyes.

Zach didn't really have anything to say to this. He realised at this moment that he'd just been focused on catching up to the thief this entire time, not really what happened when he caught up.

As Zach tried to put something together, he heard the yelling again.

He ducked and it flew straight over him.

He finally saw what was trying to him.

It was a melynx with black fur and blue eyes.

Zach attempted to work out how to respond to this, but then a Malfestio landed next to them.

They got onto its back and it flew off, leaving him there.

Zach took this in for a second, before running to Zappy, waking him up and setting off, tailing the Malfestio.

* * *

Eventually it flew into a cave and the Zappy stopped.

They edged closer to the cave, being careful to hide their presence as they advanced.

The moment they got near, Zach nodded to Zappy.

He then ran in yelling and randomly firing off his gunlance.

The three in the cave reacted with surprise.

After a moment's hesitation, they all grabbed their weapons and ran to face them off.

The Melynx dived for Zach, just missing.

The girl took a swing at him, only to be blocked.

At that moment Zappy charged forwards, straight towards the Malfestio.

While it was able to use its scales to confuse him, he continued onwards anyways, slamming straight into the Malfestio, knocking it against the wall.

It slumped down and the Ludroth turned back around.

While the girl was distracted by this, Zach took this chance to sweep her legs out from under her.

She fell onto the ground.

Zach turned to just dodge the melynx again, but this time before it landed Zappy charged into it.

The three in the cave where now defeated and Zach had no idea what to do.

No seriously, he hadn't expected this to work out so well.

He'd just planned on catching up to the thieves, he hadn't thought about anything else afterwards.

There was a long, drawn out silence.

"I'm just gonna say the first thing that comes to mind!" He thought "What could go wrong?"

A moment passed until he said "Ya should become hunters."

"Yeah that'll do, nice one." He thought.

The girl then interrupted his self-compliments in a monotone voice.

"Why?"

"Well, I mean… ya got no choice here."

"?"

"Well if ya don't, then yer gonna get arrested and thrown into prison and shit, yeah? So I mean, might as well."

This time the felyne spoke up "So you're telling us that we should avoid going to prison by doing a job that puts our lives at risk, nya?"

"Ah come on, it ain't as bad as it used to be anymore, all that bullshit died down a few years back, these days the death rate's way down, yer only gonna be seein' a big event once or twice a year."

"Even so, nya. We're still probably gonna run into trouble with being criminals and all, nya."

"Nope, guild doesn't do any background checks on ya. Don't even have to officially exist to be registered as a hunter."

"That… seems easily exploitable…"

"Well, guess so. People these days get the the risks full well, y'know? So the Guild needs to take anythin' it can get."

There was a pause that rung out.

"So anyways, what's yer names? I haven't really learnt much about the two of ya, just sorta been chasing after ya."

The felyne spoke "Well, my name's Shoot, and this is my partner, Lyra."

"Hey." Lyra said.

"And back there's Chante, she's a Malfestio, if you couldn't already tell, nya."

"Cool. I'm Zach, that's Zappy, a Royal Ludroth. So yeah, now that introductions are over we should probably get goin' back to town."

"Wait a minute, nya. Why do we have to follow you, nya?" Shoot inquired

"Because if you don't you'll get arrested." Zach responded.

"No, but here's the thing, nya. You've only found this cave we're in. If we were to knock you out and get away, then you'd never find us, nya."

"Well, I kinda have reason to doubt that." Zach replied.

"Why's nyat?"

"I don't think ya can get away from this area. If it'd been me, I'd have left on the last escape with the roof, anything else's pointlessly risky, ain't it? And I don't think ya'd tell me that if ya were plannin' on it."

"O-Okay, nya..."

So they went back to town, the thieves not even trying to escape.

* * *

On the way there Shoot spoke "Wait a minute, nya. Don't we need last names?"

"What's that?" Lyra questioned.

"It's something that the ones in the cities do. Because there's so many of them, they can't tell each other apart by name alone. So they have to use those." Shoot explained.

"Ah right, ya can just make somethin' up for yer surname. Like I said, no background checks, so really ya can just go and put whatever ya need."

"Uh… might as well go with Windgralde, nya. Name of our village seems like a good enough for it, nya."

So they headed back to town, got registered and registered their weapons.

For about a month after that, they took on smaller jobs, like gathering or slaying smaller monsters.

Not much happened, but it was peaceful.

* * *

 **June 15th, 1347**

* * *

Today, the three walked into the jungle with a new mission.

To hunt one Velocidrome.

Unlike the last few quests, Zach wasn't going to be helping out with this.

Since he was a high-rank hunter, the fight would be over in seconds if he was there, so he was going to hang back and only interfere if things went badly.

Shoot spotted the wyvern in a clearing.

It was surrounded by Velociprey, though it didn't seem to be doing anything.

Just standing around.

Not doing anything.

The three of them edged closer, surrounding it.

Chante moved her head backwards, and then let out a scream.

The monsters were briefly stunned by this, which gave Lyra and Shoot the opportunity to rush in.

The Velociprey recovered first, splitting themselves up to charge at them.

Both of them had to deal with three.

Lyra dodged around the first, before swinging at the next.

She connected with its face and used its body to slam into the third.

She then jumped into the air, leaping towards the first.

It was surprised, which caused it to not have enough time to dodge the oncoming strike to the head.

Shoot jumped straight at the first, knocking it backwards.

The second attempted to bite at him, but he dodged around and hit it with his weapon, sending it flying.

The third then started to back off, only to be hit with a strike jumping upwards.

Now the Velocidrome was surrounded, it looked around.

As it attempted to form a strategy, it saw Chante hit the ground a few metres away.

Something orange rose up from the ground.

She then jumped backwards and flapped her wings.

The orange scales flew forwards, the Velocidrome inhaling them.

Instantly it felt strange.

Lyra and Shoot both moved in to attack it.

It attempted to escape, only to find itself moving towards the Malfestio.

Chante flew forwards, striking at it with her claws.

The Velocidrome flew backwards, only to be hit with a staff from behind, followed by a strike from a club.

The two stopped for a second, a second which the Velocidrome attempted to turn to its advantage.

It leapt back onto its feet, but instead of trying to fight, it tried to run.

But, due to the confusion, it was moving in the wrong direction.

Even though it didn't understand what was going on, it pressed on forwards, heading backwards.

Due to this confusion, it soon found itself cornered.

In desperation, it jumped forwards, blindly striking out.

It knocked Lyra on to the ground and attempted to bite at her.

All its jaws found was a staff being held between them.

The Velocidrome tightened its grip anyways, almost breaking the staff.

At that moment it was hit by a strike on the head, loosening the grip and hitting it into the wall.

It then paused completely for a second, as if to register a new plan, but was hit by Shoot anyways, finally killing it.

* * *

The three of them stood over the corpse for a moment before starting to carve up from behind, when Zach walked up behind them.

"Well, wasn't bad for a first hunt, I guess, but ya really went and left a lotta room for improvement."

"Really, nya?" Shoot questioned "Do go on, nya."

"I'll do it on the way back, just focus on carvin' that thing up for now."

* * *

 **July 1st, 1348**

* * *

The Velocidrome walked through the jungle, surrounded by Velociprey.

Suddenly it saw some blue coming from its right, but before it could dodge it found itself falling into unconsciousness.

It awoke to an explosion.

It leapt to its feet, having been weakened by being exposed to the brunt of this explosion.

Attempting to recover, it scanned around.

The Velociprey were lying dead on the ground and there were three things around it.

An armoured hunter, an armoured felyne and a Malfestio.

It tried to attack them, but before it could do anything the Malfestio hit the ground.

Some scales flew up, and the Malfestio beat its wings to send them towards it.

The Velocidrome was unable to dodge, and started to feel strange.

Before it could work out what was going on, the other two ran forwards, striking at it with their weapons.

It couldn't fight back, as any time it tried to move it ended up doing the opposite.

All it could do was feel pain.

Eventually, after it had experienced this pain for a short while, it felt its consciousness slipping again and rather than fight it, it felt into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The three hunters had certainly improved in their hunting skill, so really the best thing to do now would be to have them move onto larger, more difficult to kill monsters.

As Zach explained this to them, they heard a stomping moving through the jungle.

It was shaped much like a serpent, with a long and slender body, though unlike a serpent it had fur on its chest, underbelly, legs and tail. It also had fins on multiple parts of its body, like the head and back. The creature's entire body ranged from yellow to purple.

Everything about it seemed normal, save for one thing.

Its entire body was covered by scars.

This was worse around the face. Both of the eyes had scars running through them, making it seem like they were blinded.

"What's this thing meant to be, nya?" Shoot quietly asked.

"Mizutsune, a Leviathan that primarily uses bubbles to attack. Rated as a 5 star threat by the guild. Though this one might be above that, judgin' from its size. It's bigger than high rank ones, so I'd say this is a G-rank monster."

A silence rang out as they took it in.

"For now, we need to sneak back to town and report this thing. If worst case happens I'll try and hold it off while ya escape."

"Still though, nya. Can that thing even see where it's going?"

"No idea, honestly."

Surrounding it were bubbles, floating through the air.

They touched the surroundings, popping upon impact.

One of them flew towards Zach without him realising and popped against his armour.

At that moment the Mizutsune suddenly spun towards them.

"Did- did it notice us!?" Zach thought.

This question was answered by the leviathan rushing towards them.

All of them jumped out of the way as it slid past.

As it passed him by, Zach noticed something.

Its left eye was radiating blue, water vapour coming out.

* * *

The Mizutsune stopped and spun around, scattering some more bubbles.

One of them connected with Zappy, and the wyvern turned to him.

Its head reared backwards momentarily, before moving forwards once again to fire off a jet of pressurised water.

Zappy attempted to dodge around, but the Mizutsune moved its head around wildly, attempting to connect with anything.

It hit Zappy by pure chance and then suddenly stopped, focusing on that specific point it hit.

Zappy couldn't move, experiencing nothing but pain.

Eventually the Mizutsune ran out of energy and stopped, spreading out its bubbles again.

"Shit, this thing's really strong…" Zach thought, observing the damage Zappy had taken "Is it a deviant?"

At the time Zach didn't know what was going on, but the monster he was facing down was called "Heavenly Eye Mizutsune".

* * *

Zach turned to the other three and yelled "Hurry the hell up and start runnin'! I'll deal with this thing!"

The bubbles ended up completely missing them, hitting the surroundings.

For some reason, it didn't move.

"Wait… is that how it's doing this?" Zach thought.

Some more bubbles started to float through the air, so Zach ran towards them.

It was a fair distance away from anyone else.

Zach popped the bubbles and the Mizutsune turned to him and rushed forwards.

Zach just about rolled out of the way.

"I got it now!" He thought.

He then turned to Zappy and yelled "This thing works out where we are using the bubbles! Just avoid the bubbles and we'll be able to get away!"

One of the bubbles ended up connected with him as he finished this, and he quickly spun around to see the Mizutsune fire off a blue coloured bubble.

Getting a bad feeling from this, he raised his shield.

The bubble connected with the shield, exploding.

Luckily, since Zach was blocking he was able to avoid most of the blast, but he didn't want to think about what would've happened it he hadn't been.

Zach regrouped with Zappy and tried to work out a way out.

While at first the blindness seemed to be to their advantage, it seemed to be more of a disadvantage here.

The area they were in was surrounded by bubbles.

If they wanted to escape, they'd have to pass through them.

If they did so, the Mizutsune would know the position and would pursue them.

All the while, the Mizutsune waited.

* * *

Zach considered his options.

He could just try to run straight through the bubbles, but then the Mizutsune would pursue him.

He could try to pop the bubbles by shooting them, but he could only shoot one area at a time. Since he still had to break some to get through, he'd let the Mizutsune know where he was.

There was the possibility of destroying some bubbles and breaking through, but if the Mizutsune created anymore bubbles behind it while pursuing where it thought they were, they'd be found.

There was the option of splitting up, but that'd be bad for one of them.

All they could do is wait and try to think of a way to escape.

But even then, they'd have to think quickly, as more bubbles were being created every second.

In the distance he heard a landing noise.

It was a fairly large impact.

Then he felt a gust of wind and saw a massive amount of scales flying towards him.

The scales hit the bubbles, popping all of them.

Not understanding what was going on, the Mizutsune randomly attacked everywhere.

Despite being stunned, Zappy suddenly took off, running as fast as possible.

* * *

They finally got back into town and explained what was going on to the Guild.

Some hunters would be dispatched soon enough and for now any hunting there was prohibited.

He walked through town, eventually finding Lyra, Shoot and Chante.

"So then…" Zach started "Why'd ya go and save me back there? I already told ya to run."

"Who knows, nya…" Shoot muttered "Still though, nya, you needed the help, right?"

"Well yeah, I guess."

Zach paused for a second

"To be honest with ya, I'm really not that strong. I mean, ya saw it back there right. Couldn't do a thing to stop that damn thing… To me, not being able to do shit is probably the most frustrating thing there is. All ya can do is watch as it unfolds. Too weak to change a thing and too afraid to even try. I can't say I get yer backgrounds, but ya gotta get what I'm sayin' here, right? If ya were a bunch of thieves, whatever led ya onto that probably wasn't great."

Another pause

"So, what ya gotta do is go and get strong. Aim for the top of things, that's the only way yer gonna make a difference in the way the world works. I'm workin' towards it, and I wouldn't say it's easy by any means, but it's at least something to work towards."

The others took this in.

"Well I mean, we're hunters anyway, so it's not really like there's much else we can do other than just stay where we are, nya." Shoot responded.

"What was even the point of that?" Lyra asked.

"It was for motivation, damnit." Zach answered, somewhat annoyed this hadn't had much of a visible effect.

Zach then walked off, ate some food and slept.

He woke up the next day just to find that the Jungle was still quarantined due to the Mizutsune and then lamented on how this time he was the one causing his own boredom.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, there we go, that was a chapter.

If you can't tell Nodecoh and Windgralde are both places I made up to fuel the plot, though the South El De District is a place nearby to Jumbo Village, hence why the Jungle is being hunted in.

I'm bad at writing felyne speak, so that's why "nya" is in every sentence.

We also got one of the Fated Four Deviants showing up, which was good, though because I haven't played MHXX myself I can't say if this is accurate or not.

Honestly most of this chapter was unplanned, it was originally meant to just be the first section, but then I realised that was barely anything and that I had to add something.

The Mizutsune idea only came to me earlier this week, which might explain why this is going up five minutes after I'm done writing this sentence.

Bye, see you next update.


	17. Tundra and Volcanic Hollow, 1348

**20th December, 1348**

 **10 AM**

The Tundra was nearly silent, all that could be heard was the sound of the wind.

The majority of the monsters were hiding in the caves, attempting to shield themselves from the elements.

But, there was one who ventured outside, due to desperation.

A starving Gammoth.

Normally, a Gammoth is highly territorial monster, only acting in defense.

This is, of course, so long as its territory can sustain its needs.

For this Gammoth, this wasn't the case, so now it was venturing out into the Tundra, attempting to find anything it could eat.

Since it was in such a hurry, this made it dangerous, as it would undoubtedly destroy anything in its way without a second thought.

As it travelled, it found something that it would undoubtedly attempt to destroy without a second thought.

A hunter.

Next to her, stood a Zinogre.

* * *

The Gammoth struck out first, causing them both to split up by dodging.

Alexandra ran around the side of the fanged wyvern and stabbed at it with her lance.

Meanwhile, Zino attempted to strike at it.

Fearing the Zinogre due to its electricity, the Gammoth decided to prioritise her first.

The Gammoth wrapped its trunk around her, and flung her across the area.

Zino just about managed to dig her claws in to land.

The Gammoth ignored Alexandra's attacks and charged forwards.

Zino dodged the charge and responded with a ball of electricity.

Unfazed by this, the Gammoth turned and slammed down with its trunk.

Zino just barely dodged the strike, but still felt the force of it from a few metres away.

At this moment, Alexandra rushed in, once again striking at the legs of the wyvern.

In response to this, the Gammoth lifted itself off the ground using its back legs.

Its trunk started to move wildly as it inhaled, drawing everything around it in.

Alexandra sheathed her weapon and started to run in the other direction, not able to get anywhere.

The second the Gammoth stopped, she dived forwards, just dodging its legs as they slammed onto the ground.

She got up to look around again, only to notice something different with the Gammoth.

Its legs and tail were now covered by snow, as if forming armour around it.

The Gammoth roared, and once again charged towards Zino.

She just about dodged the charge, only to get on the side by a swing of the trunk.

Zino landed a few metres away, still able to fight.

Alexandra took this opportunity to rush in, but was stopped by the Gammoth swinging at her.

Not having enough time to dodge, she blocked.

The attack was powerful, but she was just about able to remain standing.

The Gammoth pulled backwards, ready to strike again, but as it did Zino rushed in and attempted to tackle it.

This wasn't very effective, the Gammoth then attempting to slam its trunk down on Zino again.

Zino lept backwards, and as the Gammoth attempted to recover from the attack she pounced forwards, charged with electricity.

She struck at the neck of the Gammoth, tearing through the flesh with her claws.

It wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it was certainly painful.

* * *

Zino landed and not wanting to waste this chance she pounced once again, this time with the intention of landing an attack deep enough to be fatal, but was cut off by the Gammoth angrily swinging its trunk.

Zino was knocked back a fair distance, still managing to stand.

While the Gammoth was occupied Alexandra rushed in.

She stabbed at its left side, piercing it.

The Gammoth swung around and attempted to charge at her, but was blocked.

Alexandra wasn't able to block fully, being pushed backwards, but still avoided a lot of damage.

The Gammoth charged forwards.

This attack would be incredibly difficult to fully block and she didn't have enough room to dodge, so Alexandra decided the only option was to stake everything on a counter.

The Gammoth's tusks connected with Alexandra's shield.

Had she been standing normally, she'd have simply been pushed backwards.

But, she was crouched down, meaning that the tusks pushed her even further into the snow.

The Gammoth's intention was to trample her.

Due to the snow on its legs, this attack would be made even stronger.

But, it didn't realise it had an opening.

One that had been exposed before.

The neck.

Alexandra was pushed as far as she could go, just getting past tusks.

At that moment, it opened up.

She stabbed forwards with everything she had, piercing the flesh on the neck.

She continued to attack, betting everything this would work, until she felt the lance connect with something.

The Gammoth completely froze, and she used this opportunity to pull the lance out and start running away.

Blood started pouring out of the wound, signalling that this was fatal.

She had hit a vein, exactly as she'd hoped.

The Gammoth recognised that it was now going to die.

It turned to the hunter and started charging, hoping to at least be able to take out the one who was this dangerous.

But, before it could do anything, it felt something slam down on its head, finally causing it to black out.

Zino removed her claw from the Gammoth's head and moved backwards, to where Alexandra was.

Both of them waited until the bleeding had stopped, to make sure it was dead.

Alexandra sent off the signal to say that the quest was cleared, but didn't relax.

* * *

She was far too pumped up on adrenaline and regrets, mostly due to the end.

"I'm still not strong, am I?" She thought to herself "I've got to get to the point where I can fight without taking risks like that… the question is just how to get there…"

She then carved the body and saw it get taken away, before heading back to the village, thinking of nothing but how to get to the point of being strong.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a place of the exact opposite climate, a hunter climbed down some rocks.

He was in the Volcanic Hollow. Currently the volcano was active, meaning that monsters that lived in warmer environments had migrated to it.

These monsters were incredibly dangerous, so somebody had to go in to make sure that they don't pose a threat to the villages nearby.

* * *

Riko sighed, somewhat feeling down.

"Seriously, why'd everyone have to go and split up like that… it's been over two years now, but still I haven't found anyone that'll form a group with me for over a monthish…"

He reached the bottom and started to run forwards, his destination being area 8.

"Like it'd be easier if I had a monster, I guess… At least Joseph feels my pain…" He thought, not realising he was wrong.

"I should probably get a monster of my own… still though, to do that you gotta get trust with them… a situation where that'd work is like a once in a lifetime thing…" Riko still hadn't realised that he was wrong.

He descended further, eventually reaching his destination.

He saw the Glavenus on the other side of the area.

Not having anything left to think about, Riko jumped down and started running towards it.

* * *

The Glavenus noticed him and roared.

While the hunter was stopped, it started to drag its tail along the ground.

Riko suddenly felt that something was wrong and raised his sword to block.

As he did the Glavenus suddenly moved forwards, swinging its tail towards him.

It caught fire as it flew through the air, blazing brilliantly.

This connected with Riko's sword, pushing him backwards and taking the wind out of him.

It could've been much worse, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

The Glavenus suddenly stopped and turned to face Riko, shooting off fire from its mouth.

Riko sheathed his sword and ran around them, finally reaching the brute wyvern.

The Glavenus attempted to bite at him, and as it did Riko noticed how the mouth was filled with fire, illuminating it. It was pretty clear that if he was hit with that he'd be badly injured.

Luckily enough, the Glavenus had left itself open after the strike, which Riko took advantage of to swing down with his sword, damaging the head.

The Glavenus roared as a response and pulled back slightly, before starting to move its tail again.

Riko jumped backwards as the Glavenus slammed its tail onto the ground, right where he was a few seconds ago.

Riko then ducked under another swipe at his head, it just grazing his hair.

He took a swing at the Glavenus' leg, connecting with the side of his sword, before having to jump back due to another bite attempt. After dodging this, he swung around to mirror his motion from earlier.

The Glavenus once again pulled back in pain, but this time it jumped backwards.

Riko got himself ready to counter, as the Glavenus jumped forwards and swung around, connecting its tail with the ground. Riko just jumped past this, but at that moment the Glavenus swung once again, connecting with him this time.

Riko was knocked backwards and landed a few metres away with a crash. Luckily, the attack hadn't sliced through his armour, but he wasn't sure how many more hits he'd be able to stand.

He noticed the Glavenus start to move again.

It lifted its tail up towards its mouth and started to grind its tail against its teeth, as if sharpening it.

The Glavenus did this for a few moment, giving Riko the time to get back up and prepare himself.

It then tensed up, before bursting forth in a spinning attack.

Riko, figuring that he had no shot at blocking this, dived away from the Glavenus' attack.

It just went over him, allowing him the chance to feel the heat that the tail was giving off.

Riko then rose to his feet again, only to hear thumping.

He looked over to see a brute wyvern slightly larger than the Glavenus walk in.

The Deviljho roared, having identified its prey.

* * *

The Glavenus was the first to move, attempting to go for the Deviljho's head with its tail.

The Deviljho interrupted it by stomping on the ground, causing a tremor.

This caused the Glavenus to lose its footing and slip, only grazing the Deviljho's side.

At that moment, the Deviljho kicked the ground, launching rocks at the Glavenus and causing some minor damage to the head.

It then moved in for the bite, connecting with the Glavenus' side.

As Riko watched this fight, he thought to himself "So… looks like the Glavenus is gonna lose, huh… Actually, this could work, couldn't it? If I step in to help out, I could turn the tables on the Deviljho, meaning that the Glavenus will be grateful to me for the assist, so it could become some form of a hunting partner while I'm down here! Can't guarantee it'd be anything permanent, but it'd sure as hell be a start!"

Riko then rushed forwards, more motivated then the usual nothingness he felt.

* * *

The Glavenus attempted to recover from the Deviljho's bite by swinging around with its tail, but this missed once again.

The Deviljho then raised its left leg off the ground, before slamming down, causing a tremor.

This time instead of going for a bite, the Deviljho charged at the Glavenus.

It pushed the Glavenus backwards, sending it briefly into the air before it came crashing into the ground.

The Deviljho finally moved in to finish this, when it was hit from the side by an attack from a great sword.

The Deviljho stepped backwards slightly to see a hunter standing there, facing it down.

Out of anger it slammed its foot down, causing a tremor, but this was to no effect.

"Good thing this set has tremor res…" Riko thought to himself, relieved.

The Glavenus stood back up and roared, which ended up throwing Riko off more than anything.

Riko just about recovered in time to dodge out of the way of another one of the Glavenus' attacks.

The Glavenus decided to ram straight into the Deviljho, but failed to do any significant damage to it.

The Deviljho started to move its head around, prepared for a bite, when suddenly it found itself being hit with a great sword again.

The Deviljho attempted to attack Riko, but found itself being attacked by the Glavenus, biting into its neck.

The Deviljho roared, stopping Riko and then slammed its foot down, stopping the Glavenus.

It fell back by a few metres before roaring once again. Its muscles began to swell up and certain areas of its body turned blood red.

The Deviljho roared one final time, its cries being heeded all throughout the volcano.

It then abruptly lowered its head, attempting to work out who to target first.

It chose Riko.

* * *

The Deviljho launched some rocks at him, which he leapt out of the way of.

Not giving him a chance to think, the Deviljho quickly started charging at him.

Riko ended up getting caught by this attack and was flung a considerable distance, taking heavy damage.

He just about landed on his feet, albeit unsteadily.

He saw the Deviljho lift its head back slightly, before swinging it around to let out dragon breath.

Not having enough time or energy to dodge, the only thing Riko could do was attempt to block with his sword.

The sword managed to block the majority of the attack, but Riko still found himself slightly burnt.

The breath himself was difficult to resist, pushing him with such force that he felt that he could fall at any minute.

The Deviljho had no intention of letting up, recognising that this fight would be easy as soon as it eliminated the hunter.

But, as it was so focused on this goal, it didn't notice the Glavenus as it moved in for the attack right until the last second.

* * *

The Deviljho attempted to twist around to focus the breath on the Glavenus, but this was to no effect, its stomach being sliced by the flaming tail.

The Glavenus wasn't yet finished, slicing once again, this time aiming for the back.

The Glavenus went for another slice, only to be cut off by the foot stomp once more.

At this moment, Riko switched in, delivering a strike straight to the Deviljho's face.

The Deviljho stepped backwards and attempted to launch rocks at him, but these were blocked with some difficulty.

Riko dropped his guard and tried to push forwards again, but the Glavenus stepped in front of him, shooting a fireball straight for the Deviljho's head.

This attack connected to a decent effect, but wasn't nearly enough to end the fight.

Riko pushed forwards again, this time striking upwards, connecting with the Deviljho's chin and pushing it back somehow.

The Glavenus moved forwards once again, striking across the Deviljho's face with a tail swing, blinding it in one eye.

The Deviljho roared in pain and attempted to use dragon breath on both of them, but they both dodged around it, Riko going to the left and the Glavenus to the right.

The Deviljho tried to focus on the Glavenus, but this left it open to the left.

Riko striked at its neck, failing to leave much of an impact, but distracting it for long enough for the Glavenus to swing around with scorching tail strike, cutting off the Deviljho's train of thought instantly and completely.

* * *

The larger brute wyvern collapsed to the ground, dead.

Riko looked at its corpse for a moment, recovering, before he was abruptly cut off the by the Glavenus' attack.

Riko jumped backwards and attempted to work out what was going on.

"So it's still attacking me, then… must still recognise me as a threat… well for now I just gotta avoid killing it and pull back, come back when it's less aggressive."

As Riko thought this, the Glavenus swung its tail around.

Without thinking he swung towards it.

He figured that this would simply deflect it, but he ended up cutting the tail off.

It flew through the air and landed a short distance away.

Both of them stared in disbelief, before the Glavenus roared out of anger and charged straight at Riko.

Riko didn't notice this until the exact last moment, so he panicked and swung his sword, connecting with the Glavenus' head.

The Glavenus collapsed onto the ground suddenly.

* * *

Riko was still stunned by this turn of events and stood for there for a few minutes, before taking in what had happened.

He looked over at the Glavenus, which hadn't moved.

It wasn't breathing.

"SHIT!" He thought.

Riko lamented over this for a few more seconds, before resigning himself back to not particularly caring.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Originally, this was just gonna be Alexandra's chapter, but that was short, so I added Riko's which was also short.

So this is basically two midgets that are stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat to pass themselves off as a tall person.

Yeah, not much happened.

Next chapter will develop the plot, honest.

Also despite being half set in the New World, this is the first (and possibly only) chapter to not have a character speaking in New World dialect. That exists for some reason, it's your typical countryside thing with "you" being swapped out with "ya" and other stuff that I inconsistently use.

People from the New World use it because I wanted to give the original four something distinctive. Also the Yukumo trio got it tacked onto them because they're also from the New World, so they have something distinctive too I guess.

So that's definitely something.

See you next time.


	18. Pokke, 1348 (1)

**April 16th, 1348**

 **11 PM**

* * *

The wind howled across the mountain, in the middle of a snowstorm.

A Nargacuga flew close to the ground, a hunter on his back.

"C'mon Nargy, just a little more." Joseph muttered.

The weather made it almost impossible to see more than a few metres ahead of them even with Nargy's sharp vision, which was obviously dangerous at the speed they were going at.

Still, it's not as though they had much of a choice, as they were sure to freeze to death if they waited for too long.

Nargy had to stick close to the ground, as if they flew too far away they'd surely get lost and be unable to find their destination.

Joseph wasn't sure what it looked like, he just knew that it was at the top of this mountain.

Nargy was somewhat tired out by all of this flying, Nargacuga were hardly built for endurance after all.

He felt his consciousness start to slip, but still snapped himself awake.

As he did so, he started to be aware of his surroundings again.

He now realised that there was a giant rock straight in front of him, which he had next to no chance of dodging.

Nargy still tried anyway, ultimately failing and crashing into it at top speed, knocking himself unconscious instantly.

Joseph was thrown off, but was still awake.

He looked at Nargy, on the ground.

"No…" He spoke as loudly as he could "We're not doing this shit. No way in hell that either of us are gonna die here, ya hear me?"

Joseph grabbed Nargy and grabbed him by the wings, walking backwards up the mountain.

It was a difficult walk and went on for what seemed to be hours, but eventually he saw some form of light and some buildings ahead.

Joseph walked towards it, but just as he reached it, he suddenly felt his strength give out, and he collapsed, falling into unconsciousness on the snow.

* * *

Joseph later woke up inside a hut.

From the light coming through the window, it was clearly day.

He walked outside to see a village covered in snow.

Joseph walked around until he found the woman who seemed to be the elder, judging from how she was wyverian, incredibly old and incredibly short, and asked her "This Pokke Village?"

"Yes, this is."

"Oh cool, I made it. Uh… how'd I get into the hut? I don't remember collapsing there."

"I found you and a Nargacuga passed out just outside the village earlier this morning, so I had you moved into that hut and I had that Nargacuga caged up next to the farm, since I figure that you would know what to do with it. You were almost dead when we found you, it's a miracle you're even standing right now."

"Yeah, I tend to recover quicker than others for some reason… Anyways, I'm Joseph Gilmore. Here to take up the role of village's hunter. Nice to meetcha."

There was a silence.

"Seriously?" The Elder asked.

"Whaddya mean by that?"

"Well, you almost died just coming up this mountain."

"That's only cause it was a snowstorm, if it hadn't been we'd have made it just fine."

"When did the snowstorm start for you?"

"Uh… I think we were about halfway there…"

"Then you should've just turned around and headed back, shouldn't you."

"Yeah, but at Doretal I'd already said I was leavin' so if I headed back it'd be super awkward."

"They probably think you're dead…"

"Well, doesn't matter, what matters is I'm here now. Besides, ya haven't got any other hunters, do ya? And I've gotta learn how to deal with these types of environments well. So, we're both benefitin' from this."

"Well, guess I can't argue that. Still though, you shouldn't expect much out of this place. Aside from the Ukanlos that live up on the Arctic Ridge, you're not going to be seeing anything big other than the occasional Tigrex."

"That's fine," Joseph responded, walking off "I got no intention of risking my life for no reason."

"Wait what?" The Elder replied, though Joseph already couldn't hear her.

* * *

He got Nargy freed, then took a quest to head off to the Arctic Ridge.

It was his first time seeing the area, and while he found the area to look quite nice it also seemed to be incredibly difficult to traverse, being so high up.

Luckily, he had Nargy, which made things simpler, but he considered himself lucky he hadn't hunted here before.

Nargy flew to the top of the mountain, where he could see a frozen lake.

Inside of the mountain lived the White God, Ukanlos.

While for most of the year they slept in the depths of the mountain, every year one would emerge and start heading somewhere.

It wasn't known where they went, but many said that they were headed towards the other Gods, Akantor and Odibatorasu.

He didn't know that much about or believe in the concept of the three Gods, but what he did know is that they were originally classed as Elder Dragons and have a threat level of seven stars, one higher than that of a Molten Tigrex. While taking one down would pretty much guarantee that he could kill that bastard, he didn't feel like taking his chances, even if they were meant to be asleep right now.

Nargy searched slightly lower on the mountain, and sure enough they found their target, a Giadrome.

Nargy suddenly sped up, diving straight at it, and Joseph jumped off.

As he got close, the Giadrome noticed him. At that moment, Joseph gripped his weapon, before quickly drawing and attempted to take a swing at its head.

The Giadrome ducked and he missed completely.

His weapon connected with the ground and his grip on it slipped, causing it to clatter onto the slow. Joseph himself crashed into the snow and rolled until he hit a wall.

The Giadrome looked at him while it planned its next move, and as it was just about to relay orders to the Giaprey nearby, Nargy crashed into it, sending it flying.

It crashed into the same wall Joseph did, just to his right.

* * *

Nargy lifted his tail into the air and roared, stopping the Giaprey just about to attack.

While he did Joseph rose to his feet, shakily walked over to his sword, and picked it up to assume a battle stance.

The Giadrome stood up in a similar fashion, but it made the first move, attempting to jump at him.

Joseph used a fade slash to dodge while also connecting with its head.

The Giadrome responded by attempting to bite at him, but Joseph just had to move his head backwards to dodge this one.

Joseph then swung his sword to hit the neck, which proved successful, though was unable to completely end the fight.

Just hanging in there, the Giadrome roared, ordering the Giaprey to try and swarm him.

But, before they could reach the fight, Nargy shot out spikes, connecting with some of them and taking them out near instantly.

He turned to the rest and used a combination of tail strikes and body slams to take them out.

Finally, there was only the three of them left.

The Giadrome roared once again and attempted to pounce forwards.

It was interrupted by a tail strike from Nargy slamming it into the ground.

As it bounced back upwards it saw a swing from the sword coming straight at it, but since it was unable to dodge, it was over.

Joseph carved the corpses and looked around.

"Y'know, if get Nargy to fly me around I'm really not learnin' how to deal with these environments, am I?" He thought to himself.

Having figured this out, he started to climb down the mountain.

* * *

A week or two passed by and Joseph found himself getting used to hunting in this area.

They were walking through the village after a hunt, when Nargy turned around, seemingly having noticed something.

He growled at it and Joseph noticed it.

"What is it?" he asked.

Nargy continued to growl.

"Behind the boxes?"

Nargy continued to growl.

"Nod your head if yes."

Nargy nodded his head while continuing to growl.

"Person?"

Nargy repeated this.

"Hey, ya got noticed, show yerself!" Yelled Joseph.

The person suddenly fell other and thumped onto the ground.

He was a fairly young looking boy with pale skin, green eyes and strangely, silver hair.

"Who are ya?" Joseph asked, but the boy got up and started sprinting without answering.

Joseph ran after him, and eventually the boy ran out of breath and had to stop, at which point Joseph caught up.

The boy regained his breath and started running again, which repeated this process.

This cycle looped until the boy just randomly collapsed.

"So…" Joseph "Who are ya, whaddya want?"

"Um… I'm Terrence Gandor… Please make me your apprentice!"

"...Huh?"

"Yeah, like I said. I wanna be a hunter. So, make me your apprentice."

"Seriously? No one I've ever met has become a hunter willingly, usually it's a thing of having no other choice. Yer in a nice enough village, sure there's gotta be other choices."

"Well, it's just that I've gotta be a hunter, you know. It's been my ambition from since when I was kid."

"Ya still look like a kid. How old are ya, exactly."

"15!"

"That's way too young!"

"What do you mean!?"

"Ya gotta be 18 to be a hunter, don'tcha!?"

"Nope, the guild's lowered the age to 15. So, I'm allowed."

"Seriously? Here I was thinking it'd have gotten better over the years… Still, I wouldn't feel good if I led some kid to his death… do yer parents even know about this?"

"Ah…" Terrence muttered.

"Fuck." Joseph thought.

"Fine, fine. I got it." Joseph sighed "We'll start going on hunts tomorrow, I guess. Ya can handle the preparations on yer own, right?"

Terrence's face lit up but then instantly became worried.

"...Uh… I kinda… don't know how to do that…"

"...Have ya at least got a weapon?"

"..."

"I think I've got enough money for it, but still, I thought ya had already registered as a hunter by now, haven'tcha gone out at all?"

"Well, yeah, but I haven't gone on any slaying quests or anything like that, so I don't really have anything for fighting..."

"Got it, let's go then." Joseph responded, already walking off.

Terrence grinned somewhat and started to follow him.

They made their way to the smithy, where Joseph got the attention of the guy working there.

"Hey, y'know that set that lets ya resist the cold without a drink, how much's it, I wanna buy one."

"You mean the Mafumofu set? 600 zeni."

"Seriously?" Joseph turned to Terrence "Hey, ya better get take good of this set, y'hear. Shit's damn expensive."

The smith looked over "Ah, Terrence! You're finally becoming a hunter, huh? I'm sure the Elder's gonna be happy to hear it. We all expect great things from you, you hear."

Terrence grinned "Yeah! Thanks!"

Joseph then noticed a potential chance "Hey, if you're so excited for him to be a hunter how about ya give us a discount?"

"No."

"Was worth a shot…" he thought.

Joseph turned back to Terrence "Oh yeah, what about yer weapon?"

"You want a great sword, right?" The smith asked.

"Yeah, that's what I'm choosing." Terrence responded.

So, Terrence got an Iron Sword as well as a full Mafumofu set and was ready to head out the next day.

* * *

As they got the quest, he seemed to notice the Elder smiling.

They set out and eventually reached the base camp of the Artic Ridge.

Terrence ran out to look at the mountain before him.

He seemed incredibly excited, just from the look in his eyes.

Joseph walked behind him and muttered "Don't get too excited, we're only slayin' some small monsters."

"Well, I know, but it's a start, so that's what's gotten me so pumped up!"

"Sure, sure, whatever ya say. Anyways, you ain't that good at running and physical shit yet, so we might as well do that for now."

"Got it!"

"Now come on, we're headin' up the mountain."

Terrence didn't respond, and started to run behind Joseph, barely keeping up.

It took until they got to the mountain for him to finally give in, and after he recovered they headed up.

As they walked through the caverns, they saw two Giaprey ahead of them.

Terrence seemed to freeze up, but Joseph wasn't that concerned.

"Hey, ya should know how to use that thing on yer back, right? Go take 'em out. I'll step in if things look bad."

Terrence ran forward and drew his sword.

He attempted to swing at the first one but missed, as the Giaprey jumped backwards in the time taken for the attack to be performed.

He attempted to pull the sword up to attack again, but due to its weight it took him a while to recover.

This was too long, as the one he hadn't been targeting took this chance to attack.

It jumped into the air, aiming straight for him.

Terrence just about raised his sword in time, deflecting the attack.

Now that he had it raised, he used this chance to pull the sword back and wait for a second before slamming down again.

Unfortunately, this second cost him, as he wasn't able to completely nail the Giaprey with the strike, only hitting its side.

The Giaprey reacted by attempting to bite at him, but this time Terrence was more adjusted to the weight and swung to the right, hitting its head and knocking it back.

As the bird wyvern was dazed, he stepped forwards and readied the final hit, but was interrupted by the other slamming into him from the side.

Terrence fell to the ground and just about managed to hold the Giaprey off with his sword.

He kicked out and ended up hitting the leg of the Giaprey, knocking it over.

He then quickly got to his feet and struck downwards, finishing it.

He paused for a second before swinging around to the face the other Giaprey, which was now running at him.

The Giaprey leapt into the air, but as it did Terrence swung his weapon upwards, knocking it out of the sky.

It fell down and he walked over to it, raised his sword over his shoulder and slammed down, ending the fight.

He took a second to recover, before looking up, seeming satisfied with this.

"Ya still got 6 more." Joseph commented.

"I know, but, I think I've got it now."

* * *

So, they moved through the mountain, finding and slaying the rest of them.

Terrence showed a lot of improvement while doing this, but it was apparent throughout that he was being held back by something or other, even if Joseph couldn't work out what it was.

They headed back to the village and to prepare for the next hunt.

After about two weeks of going on hunts, Terrence had showed a fair amount of improvement, but it was only improvement at fighting small bird wyverns. He would need to start to fight large monsters someday, and it just so happened that that day fell right around then.

Joseph walked down to the quest counter, Nargy following him, when he noticed Terrence standing there excitedly.

As Joseph got close he looked over and held a quest paper up "Check it out!" he yelled.

It was a quest that ordered the hunting of one Giadrome.

"Oh, cool." Joseph remarked.

* * *

They headed out to the mountain, made it to area 7 where they saw a Giadrome.

"I'll handle the Giaprey and keep 'em off ya, yer gonna be handlin' the drome alone."

Before Joseph could even finish, Terrence had already rushed forwards and taken a swing at the bird wyvern.

He swung but ended up missing due to the time taken.

Not hesitating this time, he slowly lifted his weapon up and swung it around, connecting with the Giadrome's side.

While it dealt a fair amount of damage, it didn't knock it flying like with the preys, so it was less than he expected.

The Giadrome responded with anger and pounced forwards.

Terrence took a swing at it but ended up missing and the Giadrome knocked him onto the ground.

While he was down it attempted to bite at his head so he rolled out of the way, the attack narrowly missing.

Terrence then jumped to his feet and swung upwards at the wyvern, connecting with its head.

This knocked it back and briefly stunned it, which opened up an opportunity that Terrence seized by stepping forwards and swinging his weapon down on its head.

This slammed it into the ground but failed to end the fight.

Terrence stepped back for a second to recover, at which point the Giadrome suddenly whirled into action.

It pounced forwards and Terrence just about blocked the attack, pushing it backwards slightly.

The second after this it jumped to his left, nearly entering his blind spot.

As he spun to face it, it shot out some white substance from its mouth.

When it hit Terrence it froze around him, making him unable to move his arms.

So basically, he was unable to attack entirely.

"What… do I do now?" He thought, until he was interrupted by Joseph yelling "Use a cleanser!"

Terrence could just about reach his item pouch and started trying to feel for one.

The Giadrome ran towards him and swung its tail around, hitting his stomach.

Terrence was knocked back slightly and was left open to the following strike, a hipcheck.

Terrence was knocked back a fair distance, now finding himself at the edge of the cliff.

The Giadrome jumped forwards, planning for this to be the last attack.

But, it wasn't.

Terrence rolled out of the way of the strike, going underneath its claws by only a few centimetres.

The Giadrome reached the edge and almost fell off, scrambling to stay on the mountain.

It dug its claws in and pulled itself up, before taking a second to recover.

It then found itself in the air again, having been hit off the mountain by a great sword in that second.

The Giadrome let out one final scream as it tumbled down the side of the mountain.

Terrence watched it fall and realised he had won, at which point he excitedly turned around to face the other two, only to find them staring down the mountain.

"How're we meant to get the body now…" Joseph muttered.

He then felt slightly worse about his victory, but he had still won, so he knew that he must be getting stronger.

Joseph turned to him "Well, that wasn't bad, but ya still put yourself at risk there, took way too much damage and only won by chance."

"Well, yeah I guess…"

"Anyways, I'm gonna try to get that body, ya can just go head back."

* * *

 **15th August 1348**

 **10 AM**

* * *

Joseph walked up and headed over to the quest board, only to find that Terrence was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, there was no one around.

There was a snowstorm raging on the mountains in the distance, but luckily the village seemed to be safe.

Joseph looked around while for a little while before finally finding the Elder.

"Hey, what's goin' on right now? Can't go on quests, no one at the board."

"From the looks of things, a Ukanlos has emerged, so hunting in that area's currently prohibited. A team's been requested from the Guild, they should be here by tomorrow."

"Got it, guess I can't go huntin' today then."

Joseph walked away and started to think to himself "Still though, I haven't got much too do, have I? I should probably just find Terrence… yeah, thinkin' bout it I don't know anything about him…"

He walked around until he found a place which had the sign "Pokke Orphanage" placed on it.

"Bettin' he lives around here." He thought, before knocking on the door.

He was answered by a woman who looked to be about in her forties or fifties.

"Hey, some kid called Terrence live here?"

"Yes… who are you, exactly?"

"Joseph Gilmore. Workin' as the village hunter right now, and somehow or another he's workin' with me."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm the head of this place. You can just me call me Ann. Please, come in."

* * *

So, Joseph headed in and sat down, and refused the offer for anything to drink when asked.

"So then, how is Terrence doing with his hunting?"

"Well, right now he's around the middle of low rank. Just the other day we went against a Blangalola. I mean, he ain't a bad hunter by any means, but I think that there's still something holdin' him back."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I guess it'd be two things. First, I don't think that the weapon he's using is the right one for him. Right now, he's using a weapon that requires a lot of strength to use, but he doesn't really have that. I think he'd be better suited to a lighter weapon, but whenever I try to bring it up he refuses to say a thing on it, so there's not much I can do there… and, the other thing is, he seems to rush headfirst into everything."

"I… see."

"Yeah, he's fine on the way there, but the moment he lays eyes on a monster he's off, can't say a thing to him in most cases… hell, he's even more enthusiastic then ya'd expect in terms of fighting new monsters, it's real weird…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. He's in a nice enough place, so there's no need for him to be one in the first place. Most people aren't hunters by choice, y'know. Even then, they don't have such a reckless attitude towards hunting. Hey, ya know him pretty good, got any idea on what's causing this?"

"Hmm, I think there might be a reason for his actions…"

"Guess I'm in for a story." Joseph thought.

* * *

"His father, Aron Gandor, was the village hunter. He was raised in this village and worked here for a few years. Then, in 1327, he decided to leave to explore the world. We didn't hear anything about him, until he came back nine years later with Terrence. Physically, he was pretty much the same, if anything he looked healthier than he did before, but for some reason his personality and way he acted was a lot… heavier, I guess would be the right word. For two years after that he stayed as the village hunter, but one day a Ukanlos emerged in the mountains. While normally, that'd be fine, this time, the hunting party the Guild never showed up. We'd later find out that they had been attacked and wiped out by some monsters, though what was capable of such a feat was never discovered. But either way, it meant that no help would arrive. Deciding that there was no other choice, Aron went up there alone, armed with only a great sword, armour and some items. Then…"

"So, this is where it ends, huh?" Joseph thought.

"He killed it."

"Wait, hold up a sec, ya serious here!?"

"Yes, everyone was about as surprised as you are now. He returned the next day, quite heavily wounded, but still alive. Because of that, he ended up gaining a lot of fame. A small village hunter who singlehandedly took down a god, a story like that spread like fire. So, because of that, he gained some titles. The one that seemed most prominent was 'The White Godslayer'. Pokke was the centre of attention for a little while, we got plenty of hunters showing up. This lasted for about three months until one day, when he disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"Wait, whaddya mean by that? So he just vanished into thin air?"

"No, not entirely. From what we heard later he had made his way to the Frontier… but that was eight years ago now. Either way, he left without saying a thing in the dead of night, and left everything save for his equipment. After that, the village's popularity almost completely died out, since the legendary hunter had already left."

"So then, that means he left Terrence behind as well, huh?"

"Yes, exactly. After that, he moved here, and he's been here since if you can't already guess. At first, I thought it'd be somewhat hard on him, but he almost right away he started going on about how he was going to be a great hunter just like Aron was. So, a little under ten years passed, and here he is now, working as a hunter himself."

"Huh, got it… That'd explain a lot…" Joseph thought to himself.

* * *

Joseph suddenly snapped out of his thoughts "Oh yeah, speakin' of, I should probably get to what I was gonna do when I first got here."

"What's that?"

"Well, where's he at the minute? I mean, I figured he'd be round here, that's why I came here, but it's pretty clear now that he ain't. Ya should know, right?"

"I thought that he had gone hunting on his own?"

"No way he coulda done that, hunting in the mountains' forbidden right now."

"Oh… this morning he was completely missing, so I'd just assuming. He must be in town then, right?"

"Yeah…" Joseph hesitantly responded.

So, they searched around town, asking everyone who about if they had seen Terrence.

As feared though, no one had seen him.

Joseph got Nargy to fly into the sky.

Despite the good vision that a Nargacuga held, they couldn't see him anywhere.

Which only left one likely place where he could be.

Joseph found the Elder. "Hey, can ya give me a quest up to the mountains. Anything'll do, just need to head up there."

"Don't be ridiculous, we can't send you up there in conditions that dangerous. You'll die for sure."

"No way in hell I'm gonna die up there. Plus, that ain't what's important. Terrence's up there, y'know!?"

"...Even if he is there, we can't risk the lives of two hunters just to chance saving the one."

"Really, even if he's the kid of yer legendary godslayer?"

The Elder seemed silent.

"Seriously, just decide if ya wanna raise him to be a replacement or not… Anyways, I'm headin' out!"

"Wait, you can't just leave like that!"

"Just watch me!"

Joseph ran off and hopped onto Nargy's back, who quickly took off.

* * *

After a few minutes, they were at the base of the Arctic Ridge.

Nargy hesitated, unsure about going up the mountain.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. We'll just take him, fight it off, then head down once the Guild shows up. I'll handle it myself, ya can just head down yerself, got it?"

Nargy then suddenly took off, heading straight up the mountain, at a breakneck pace.

Terrence stood with his weapon drawn, facing down the giant flying wyvern before him.

The Ukanlos roared, temporarily stunning him.

He then saw it move back slightly, before springing forwards into a jump.

Terrence just about recovered in time to dive out of the way.

As it landed on the ground the Ukanlos dug into the ice, making only its top half visible.

It started to move towards Terrence at a surprisingly fast speed, but nothing he couldn't get around.

He reached into his item pouch and found that he was incredibly low on potions, despite having barely hurt it.

He regretfully downed his third-last mega potion and felt his strength return to him somewhat, only to see the Ukanlos climb out of the ice and shoot a beam towards him.

Terrence almost dodged, but was caught up in and launched into the wall, crashing into it and dislodging some icicles nearby.

Terrence looked up to see the Ukanlos now staring at him, as if planning its next move.

It then suddenly snapped into action and charged forwards.

Terrence attempted to stand up, but wasn't sure if he'd be able to do anything.

As he tried this, he was suddenly slammed into by a somewhat smaller flying wyvern.

Terrence crashed into the ground a short distance away, and rolled over to see the backs of Joseph and Nargy.

"Huh? Joseph, why-?"

"Cause, yer too damn dedicated to this whole succeeding yer dad shit. Anyways, for now just shut it, I've gotta god to beat the shit outta."

"But still, why would you come up the mountain in this weather…?"

"Obvious, ain't it?"

Joseph drew his weapon and faced the Ukanlos, who seemed to be getting ready for another attack.

"Wouldn't be able to sleep good if I let some orphan brat die."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, that's a chapter finished. Once again it's one of those cases where the majority is only fought of while I'm writing it, as that whole Ukanlos thing wasn't even considered in the original plan, despite it having first been thought up like 2 years back.

Recently I finished AA3, NDRV3 and the first season of Kaiji, but since this was a long chapter I don't need to pad with my author's notes, so they were all cool I guess.


	19. Pokke, 1348 (2)

Joseph started to run around the Ukanlos, attempting to draw its attention.

The Ukanlos ignored him, instead focusing on Terrence and Nargy.

Figuring that just running away was a lost cause, Joseph sprinted towards it and slashed at its side.

The Ukanlos turned to him, deciding that it'd be best to get him out of the way first.

Joseph turned to Nargy and yelled "GO FOR IT NOW, I'LL HOLD OUT 'TIL THE HUNTERS SHOW UP!"

The Ukanlos rose its front into the air and came crashing down, but as it did Joseph's aura activated.

He rolled away from the Ukanlos, then as he rose to his feet dove to the side to dodge the Ukanlos charging forwards.

Joseph just about managed to land on his feet, then pounced and slashing at its side once again.

The Ukanlos then suddenly twisted around, knocking him away. Joseph crashed into the wall only a few metres away, but refused to stop here, and hopped back up almost instantly.

He surveyed the arena to see if Nargy and Terrence were still around, before finding that they'd gotten away.

"That's good…" He thought "Now I don't gotta worry 'bout hurtin' em… so I can go all out."

As he surrendered to his own instincts, he felt his own self-control slipping once again, just like those times before.

* * *

The Ukanlos attempted to shoot a beam of ice at him, but he saw it coming a mile off, jumping to the right and clearing it completely.

Figuring it'd be too long for the Ukanlos to get tired and come to him, he started to run directly at it.

The White God swung at him, but he dodged around it and then swung down with everything he had, cutting it slightly.

Not wanting to wait, Joseph then looked up and went straight for its neck, only to notice something was off as he did and jump away, as the Ukanlos slammed its head into the ground, hoping to have crushed him underneath.

Joseph then seized the opportunity that had opened up by stabbing straight for it.

If he'd gone for anywhere other than where he was aiming, he'd likely bounce off a little and wouldn't be able to do much.

Joseph stabbed at the place completely unprotected, the eyes.

Specifically, the right eye.

It was quite small compared to the rest of the body, but it was certainly enough.

His sword pierced straight through it, causing the flightless flying wyvern to roar in pain.

Not wanting to take a risk, he pulled back as the Ukanlos began to wildly thrash.

It tried to lunge at Joseph, which he dodged with a jump to the right.

But as he did, the Ukanlos then somehow managed to stop itself and charge straight for him.

Unable to dodge, Joseph was knocked backwards and violently crashed into the ice.

He briefly fell unconscious but instantly woke up, and saw a beam coming towards him.

He got onto his feet, but as he did he felt a sharp pain run through his left leg, causing him to drop.

"Shit… what's causin' that?"

Not having any time to think about it, he tried to get out of the way, but to no success, getting himself hit by the attack.

Joseph was badly injured by this and sent flying once again, crashing into the wall.

He couldn't feel a thing but pain at this point, blankly staring ahead.

He wasn't able to see much, but he was just about able to make out a grey shape in the distance.

It got larger and closer, and he realised it was the Ukanlos charging at him.

His aura activated and he tried to dodge the attack, but could barely stand.

As he tried to move, the Ukanlos slammed into him at full force, slamming him straight into the wall.

The pain increased and Joseph heard screaming, before working out it was his own.

Finally he slumped down and collapsed.

Blood rolled down his face as he laid on the ground, it felt like the end.

The Ukanlos turned to walk away, heading to wherever it was going, having finished off the distraction.

* * *

"So this is death… huh…" His own thoughts were slow.

His life was flashing before his eyes.

He was remembering everything.

"This is what all of em felt, right at those last moments. Just a shitload of pain and not knowin' what's comin' next."

He remembered everything important to him.

Running away from Tanith Village…

Leaving Loc Lac…

And finally, Daimyo dying…

Those memories swirled into the aura around him, flaring it up and burning brightly through the snow, consuming him completely, making it him.

The Ukanlos sensed something behind it and turned around.

It saw its recent kill standing up, like a corpse reanimated.

This sight inflicted great fear upon it.

Had anything else seen this, they would have probably frozen with fear.

But the Ukanlos was a powerful wyvern, so it knew that its purpose wasn't to escape, but to attack.

It prepared itself for battle, deciding that this was more important than its previous objective.

"Too weak." Joseph heard this repeated thousands of times over.

"I ain't gonna fuckin' die, not here. Everyone's dead cause I was too weak… so I gotta avenge em. That's the only way everyone's gonna stay alive. I gotta keep everyone alive… so just lemme kill this thing already!"

Joseph was pulled forwards, running straight at his opponent.

The Ukanlos got ready to fight.

* * *

 **16th August, 1348**

 **8 AM**

* * *

The team of hunters searched the mountain, looking for the Ukanlos.

Since it hadn't been spotted outside of the mountains, they knew it was still up there.

They'd also been informed a hunter was up there, but they were expecting the worst, since he'd gone up there the day before.

One of them sent out the signal, and they all gathered at that spot.

It was at the top of the mountain, right at the frozen lake.

There was blood everywhere.

In the middle of everything lay the corpse of a Ukanlos and next to it, a person.

They checked the person, finding that he was still breathing.

None of them understood what had happened, only that somehow, this hunter had managed to kill a Ukanlos. Judging from his equipment, he was a hunter, but he was likely a hunter who was only high rank, as that's where his armour was from, so the fact that he managed to do this singlehandedly was even more confusing.

No matter what happened, standing around there wasn't going to solve it, so they sent out the signal to say that the hunt was successful and headed down the mountain, taking the hunter with them.

* * *

 **4 PM**

* * *

Joseph found himself waking up in a hut again, this time with a lot more pain.

He lay there for a minute before remembering what had happened before blacking up.

The Ukanlos was near death and he took one last swing at it. He figured that'd kill it. The moment he hit it, he blacked out, and after that he couldn't remember a thing.

"That musta been when whatever was keepin' me up went out… guess the G-ranks arrived a little while after, explains why I'm not dead."

He thought further back before hesitating for a second "What even happened there… thought I dead, then for some reason the aura just pulled me up and I kept goin'. Thinkin' bout it, didn't I break my leg?"

He got up and tested it, before finding he could stand on his left leg perfectly fine.

"Did I just imagine it back there… or is it the aura's shit? Well, wouldn't surprise me at this point, considerin' what it was able to do before... guess I really don't get this thing at all, huh?"

He walked outside to find the village moving again.

Joseph then found that a few of the people looked over, their expressions reading confusion.

Joseph was also confused by this, but didn't ask them as they then continued with their days.

* * *

He found the Elder, who asked "How are you up already?"

"Whaddya mean? I wasn't hurt that bad."

"Even if that's so, you still took down a Ukanlos. That's hardly an easy feat."

"Wait, I killed it?"

"...Yes. How did you not know that?"

"Honestly can't remember a lotta things that happened up there… But, at least now I can put that on my card and get super popular and shit! Things are lookin' up!"

"Unfortunately, you can't take credit for this hunt." The Elder interrupted.

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, the problem is that you just ran off without taking a quest first. This means that this was technically an illegal hunt, despite you having saved Terrence."

"...So I can't take credit…?"

"Well you can, at which point you'll be thrown out of the Hunter's Guild and put on death row for poaching."

"Huh, got it. That'd be a problem."

"So, the official story goes that you and Terrence went up there to gather at the bottom, at which point the Ukanlos attacked you unexpectedly. You sent Terrence and your Nargacuga back and tried to hold it off yourself, and tried to stall the Ukanlos yourself. This failed, but managed to survive just about. The G-rank hunters then came to kill it and found you."

"Well, guess it ain't that different… still, what kinda idiot'd go up there to gather when the Ukanlos' on the mountain...?"

"Well now that idiot is you. We've already agreed on this while you were passed out, so unfortunately not much can be changed. The hunters agreed without complaints."

"Seriously? They didn't even do a thing!"

"If you were offered the chance to say that you killed a Ukanlos for free would you take it?"

"Got a point there. Oh yeah by the way, where is Terrence at? I should probably go talk to him."

"Well, I'd assume he's at home, since I haven't seen him out since he got back."

"Cool, see ya." he turned away and muttered under his breath "Though ya coulda made my story a little better…"

* * *

Joseph walked up to the building and knocked on the door.

It was opened by Ann, who looked about as surprised as the people before.

"Ah, Joseph. This is… quite surprising. How are your wounds doing?"

"They're fine, they're fine. Always healed up from hunts quick for some reason. Anyways can I come in, gotta talk to Terrence bout that whole Ukanlos shit."

"Please don't use language like that here… but yes, do come in."

"Sorry, sorry."

Joseph walked up a room with "Terrence" written on it. Using his expert intuition he deducted that this was Terrence's room.

He knocked on the door and said "Hey, you good in there?"

There was no response.

Joseph waited for a few minutes just in case before opening it.

He found Terrence sitting down in the room, refusing to look up.

"Hey, talk to me already! Hell are ya doing cooped up in here!?"

"I wasn't… able to kill it…"

"Yer seriously concerned bout that? Look on the bright side here, not dead are ya?"

"Well, I guess… but still, I'm too weak…"

"Too weak for what?"

"I've got to kill one of those things so that I can…" Terrence then trailed off.

"So that ya can succeed yer dad?"

Terrence seemed surprised by this, though emotions other than generic angst weren't really that good at showing right then.

"Yeah, heard about it. Listen, I get that ya must look up to him, but that ain't worth it! Saw for yerself how strong that thing was. Yeah, yer dad was able to take it out, how close do ya think he came to dyin'!? There's no point in just constantly riskin' yer life like that!"

"It's not about my life! It's the reason why I was left here! I can't just undo everything like that-"

Joseph muttered under his breath "Grit yer fuckin' teeth."

"Huh-"

He clenched his fist, then swung forwards and connected with Terrence's stomach, causing him to double over and collapse.

Terrence looked to be in more pain than intended and he noticed that there were now small children crying from witnessing this violence, and Ann let out a loud gasp.

"Shit, probably a bad move…" he thought "Still, gotta roll with it, or else this ain't gonna work."

Joseph took in a deep breath and started yelling "Who the hell said that!? Listen, I don't care how much ya don't care about being dead, but are ya just gonna forget the people who care about ya. Hunting's a dangerous job and ya got plenty of better options here, so just quit while yer ahead!"

He then stopped for a second, before turning around to walk off, saying "Sorry bout that, just got kinda emotional. I'll show myself out."

Joseph then walked over to the Elder, got a quest and ended up doing that for the rest of the day.

He was back to hunting with just Nargy, and things stayed that way for a while.

* * *

 **7th September, 1348**

 **11 AM**

* * *

Joseph walked into area 1, looking up at the mountain, getting ready to scale it for what must've been the hundredth time now.

He heard some steps behind and saw Terrence walk into the area.

"Oh, hey. Sorry for punchin' ya back there, I guess."

"No, it's fine."

"Still though, hell are ya doing out here. I still stand by what I said back there."

"I get that but… I remembered something!"

"...Fine, I'll listen to what ya got."

"Well, you remember that fight you had with the Ukanlos, right?"

"Not particularly."

"Well, still. Back there, when you dodged its attack, a blue thing appeared around you! Unfortunately, I can't remember much about the Godslayer, but I can remember watching him fight once."

"...How is that?"

"Well, my earliest memories go back to when he was taking me to Pokke. I don't remember where we were coming from, but we were on the road. One day, our caravan ended up getting attacked by a Velocidrome's pack. While they weren't much, one of them ended up managing to sneak around him and got the jump on him. When it did that, the same thing I saw back there happened, and he managed to dodge the attack and kill it. I guess I must've forgotten about it until I saw that… still, with power like that, there'd be no risk of me dying, right? I mean, look at you, you were able to fight off a Ukanlos with it and you weren't even harmed!"

"..."

"But yeah, if you could tell me about how to get that thing, then there'd be no problem, so I could still be a hunter!"

"...I can't remember."

"Hey, don't just lie to me! I know that you don't want me to be hunter, but still, that's exactly what I need!"

"No, really. I don't know how I got this thing…"

"..."

"I've just had since I started huntin'. I don't remember having picked it up. When I first used it, it's just sorta somethin' that came to me, y'know? Even though it's affected me so much, I got no idea how I got it. Never met anyone else with it either, this is the first I've heard of anyone else usin' it. I don't know how he got it, so I can't tell ya how to get it yerself…"

Terrence was silent for a while longer. Time passed.

Finally he reacted to something, before letting out a quiet snicker.

This developed into a louder one, before evolving into a full on laugh. He almost doubled over from it, but just about managed to stay up.

Then finally, he stopped completely.

A minute passed while Joseph attempted to work out what was happening.

* * *

"So.. I guess I really couldn't be like him from the start, huh?" Terrence finally muttered.

There was another silence.

"Even though I always thought that my purpose was to be a hunter like that, I was never directly told that. I mean, it's what the villagers expected of me, so I guess I just filled it in myself. The reason he left me there was to become a hunter like him. I guess that if I don't think of it like that, then I really don't have a purpose, do I?"

"So yeah, like I said back there. Ya don't gotta be a hunter, y'know?"

"Well, I think I'm still gonna be."

"...What?"

"Well, I guess that now I don't have a purpose I've gotta find one, right? Just sitting around isn't going to change anything, so I figure that while I figure one out, I might as well stay at what I'm doing now, right?"

"Isn't that just doing what the village wanted you to?"

"I guess it might be in a way, but still, it's the best I've got for now, so that's what I'm gonna go with."

"Well, it's not like I can punch him out of this one…" Joseph thought.

"Yeah, yeah got it. Long as ya don't go off tryin' to get killed, we're good."

Terrence seemed a lot happier than he had been over the past few weeks.

"Hmm, so now you're off tryna be like yer dad right? I gotta a question for ya, when ya were getting started at being a hunter, did ya try out the other weapons?"

"Well, I guess no. I mean, it was his weapon, so since I was kid I was always saying about how I'd be a great sword wielder, so I didn't give the others any thought…"

"Yeah, honestly I feel like yer more suited to a lighter weapon than anything, so when we get back to the village yer gonna be tryin' those out, yeah?"

"Okay, got it."

* * *

So they went on a hunt up the mountain, though it didn't take that long being a gathering quest.

When they got back, Terrence tried out every weapon.

As Joseph had thought, he was better with lighter weapons as opposed to heavier ones.

What was surprising though, was that he seemed to work slightly better with gunner weapons as opposed to blademaster.

After that, they stopped since it was now dark.

* * *

The next day, Joseph was waiting by the exit of the village, when he saw Terrence walk up.

He was in a full mafumofu set, with a bow over his back.

"So ya chose bow, then?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, but unfortunately I'm not able to use my old armour with it, so I guess I'm starting over from near square one…"

"Ah yeah… that'd be a problem sorta…"

"Why?"

"I got a Blangonola quest…"

"..."

"..."

"Well, that's fine I guess, I'll just focus on keeping the Blango off of you. So you don't need to use your aura on them."

"...I feel kinda bad…"

"It's fine, really! I need the parts anyway, I gotta build a good set!"

So the two of them set off up the mountain, moving forwards at least somewhat.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, this was put together fairly quick. Originally, it was gonna be a lot longer, but that didn't happen for a simple reason. I got distracted. For the first weekish I was actually busy, which explains why I didn't work on it. But then I decided to start watching Sun and Moon. Sun and Moon is really good, like so good it makes me completely forgive the existence of Best Wishes, but unfortunately because of it work on this didn't start until Wednesday, when I realised "Oh yeah I gotta update."

In a way, it works out better, since I think that I have enough left to fill another chapter and this works out better with part 3's end now releasing only a day after the 1 year anniversary, but still it's not something I'm that proud of. Hopefully next chapter won't be incredibly delayed, since it's still important.


	20. Pokke, 1348 (3)

**15th December, 1348**

* * *

The albino Khezu silently waited on the roof of the cave, seeking prey.

It smelt something resembling a human. From the sounds of metal, it was a hunter. Though the sounds weren't as loud as usual, meaning that his armour must have been quite weak.

The Khezu waited for a few seconds, before it could hear the prey walk directly below it.

It slowly lowered its head and extended its neck, to attempt to sneak up on the hunter.

It was almost there, but as it moved in for the bite it suddenly heard the hunter land a short distance away.

It hadn't heard the hunter turn around and had no idea how it could've been noticed, but there wasn't time consider this, as it heard the hunter leap off the ground.

It quickly retracted its neck, but wasn't fast enough, receiving a slash across it.

The Khezu cried out in pain and suddenly canceled this plan, dropping off the ceiling. This wasn't a reaction to the pain, the Khezu could stay there for as long as it pleased. This was a plan of attack. Since the hunter had slashed its neck there, when it dropped it would surely land on the hunter. Even if the hunter had somehow seen through the initial strike, there was no way that it would possibly be able to dodge this.

Despite this logical reasoning, it illogically struck only the ground.

The Khezu was confused, but had no time to be, hearing the hunter just to its left.

It quickly swung to its feet and shot out a small ball of electricity, followed by two more.

The hunter's movements this time appeared more realistic, making the Khezu further question the previous supposedly inhumane movements.

It dodged the first attack to the right, before dodging back the direction it came to get around the third, the second being wasted, being a measure in the case he dodged to the left instead.

The hunter then stood up and took off running towards the Khezu.

As it closed, the Khezu attempted to defend by spinning itself around to strike with its tail.

It heard the hunter quickly grind to a halt, the tail barely missing.

The hunter then stepped in to strike, but the Khezu refused to take another, discharging electricity around itself.

It heard the hunter attempted to dodge, but to no avail, being knocked backwards.

It was knocked into a wall, letting out a sound the Khezu assumed to represent pain as it collapsed.

The Khezu then charged forward, not wanting to let this opportunity go and jumped forwards, once again discharging electricity.

But this time, perhaps predictably by now, it struck nothing.

The Khezu hadn't even heard it move, yet here it was.

It resorted to its sense of smell to find them, finding that now there were two humans in the cave.

The Khezu was significantly confused, eventually assuming that the other must have arrived while it was focused on the charge.

The smell to its right was new, and the armour it was using seemed to be lighter, so the Khezu concluded this to be the best possible target.

It turned and charged towards the lighter hunter, planning to go with everything it had.

At this moment, it suddenly heard a noise behind it, of something sprinting at an unexpectedly high speed.

It then realised that this wasn't the original hunter, but a monster it didn't recognise.

It smelled somewhat similar to the larger wyverns that it left alone, but there was something different to it, perhaps a relative.

No matter what the case was, this situation had spiraled out of the Khezu's control, so it decided the best course of action was to escape.

It stopped itself and did a 180 degree spin, managing to connect with its pursuer.

The pursuer completely stopped and the Khezu lept to the nearby wall and climbed up the ceiling, before beginning to follow its usual route further into the cave, where it could hopefully hide.

But, this was unsuccessful before it could begin, the Khezu being pelted with projectiles of some kind.

It had no idea what these were, but these inflicted a great amount of pain, causing it to involuntarily fall to the ground below.

The Khezu struggled to get up due to its wounds, which ultimately caused its end, being battered by strikes from a tail, cut up by a sword and being hit by about ten arrows.

The three of them headed down the mountain, two hunters and one monster.

* * *

Two months had passed since Terrence began hunting again, with the motive of finding a motive. Unfortunately, no progress had been made, even as the year drew to a close. He was certainly improving his skills and was hunting better than ever, nearing the end of low rank surprisingly quickly, but without any reason to, that itself seemed meaningless. He was currently just living for the sake of being alive.

"Seriously…" Joseph thought to himself "What are we gonna do here… I woulda left a while back, but if I leave without helping him out I won't be able to forget about it… Still, no matter how much I wanna help, I got under a year left… I feel stronger, but still, I wanna see what it's like in other parts before I head back."

They headed back into the village, got some food, then headed home to collapse and wait for the morning.

* * *

When they awoke, they noticed a large "Urgent quest" notice posted on it.

Joseph walked up the Elder "Hey, so what's all this about? Another Ukanlos up there or somethin'?"

"No, no, nothing like that, but still important. You've heard of an Ash Kecha Wacha, right?"

"Ain't it that Kecha subspecies that spits fire insteada water?"

"Yes, exactly. You see, there is a particularly notorious one of these. The patterns on its ears resemble a skull, so it has gained the nickname of 'Skull-Mask'."

"Original name…" Joseph muttered.

"...Anyways, what's important is that it's been sighted around here. By now, it must be fairly old, so it shouldn't be too dangerous, but the Guild knows better than to underestimate, so they're requesting it be hunted. So, you'll be setting after it tommorow. You have a day to prepare for the hunt."

"Damn, an entire day for it?"

"Well, it is a near G-rank monster. Going in unprepared would be a bad idea."

"Good point…"

Joseph paused for a moment. "Well, I'm just gonna spend the day buyin' stuff, ya go do whatever suits ya I guess."

So, Joseph set out to go buy some things. Meanwhile, Terrence decided to read up on the target, having learned about going in unprepared before.

He researched into Skull-Mask himself, and found some information on him. He'd been first sighted in the late 13th century, something that surprised him greatly, even though he knew the monster was quite old. It had mostly lived in field and forest type areas, disturbing the locals wherever it showed up. He also learnt about its multiple fights, and the different scars that it could be identified by. In the end, he spent the entire day invested in reading up on this monster as well as Kecha Wachas in general.

Soon enough, the next day arrived, and they set out.

* * *

"I get that it's weak, but still, this is a pain. Armour's real weak to fire, y'know?"

"Don't worry about that, it rarely uses fire compared to normal attacks. Your armour should be about the same as normal."

"Huh… guess you're prepared for this guy, huh?"

"Yeah, honestly I've been kinda nervous about fighting another powerful monster, but I'm sure it'll go well this time."

They headed through the forest, as that's where it was likely to be.

As they travelled through, Joseph noticed a shadow overhead.

He gazed upwards and recognised it as that of a Kecha Wacha.

He got Terrence's attention, and then hopped on Nargy's back and took to the sky.

Nargy shot straight for the blue Kecha Wacha, Joseph clinging onto his back.

The monster heard a noise to his right and instinctively dived down, the black winged enemy passing just over his head.

Nargy refused to slow down to give his enemy any form of advantage, and flew higher into the sky before turning around and diving for the heavily scarred opponent.

The pale monkey fox turned around and shot out some fire, attempting to shoot the Nargacuga down.

Nargy took the hit, flinching slightly but pressed onwards.

The Ash Kecha realised that there was no point in countering and attempted to twist out of the way, but to no effect, being caught by Nargy's tail as he passed by.

The Ash Kecha was slightly thrown off, but managed to hang on, raising his claws to attempt to strike at Nargy's back while he was open.

It was at that moment that Joseph became relevant.

He drew his hunting knife and stabbed at the target, pushing it back slightly.

Unfortunately, since he hadn't had many chances to practice with this, he ended up pushing too far, and lost his balance, risking fall off, which was hardly going to work out.

Not particularly thinking, he grabbed onto the Ash Kecha instead of just getting back on.

Nargy flew off, not even noticing, leaving him dangling in the air; the thing that was trying to kill him his only lifeline.

If he let go, he'd get injured. If he didn't let go, he'd get injured.

So Joseph decided to injure it instead.

* * *

Using his still drawn hunting knife, he began to repeatedly stab the monster in the chest, causing it to react with pain.

It was trying to hit him, but was in so much pain that it now became a problem of trying to stay in the air, causing it to come crashing to the ground.

Joseph continued to stab at it, hoping something good would come of it.

The Ash Kecha descended further, crashing into the trees and eventually throwing Joseph off, causing them both to violently hit the ground and lie there, regretting their previous actions.

Nargy landed on the ground and let out a roar, signalling both of them to get back onto their feet to fight.

Despite being injured, Joseph felt like he'd already had enough of attempting to fight on Nargy's back for today, so he stuck to the ground.

The Ash Kecha roared in response and pulled his ears over his face, revealing the skull pattern.

"Good, we were right then, really is Skull-Mask…" Joseph thought.

Skull-Mask was the first one to move, lunging straight for Nargy.

Nargy jumped out of the way and then swung around with his tail, hitting him and knocking him into the air.

Skull-Mask managed to catch himself during the flight and started to glide briefly, before shooting out a blast of fire and dropping backwards.

Joseph ran towards him, so he swung at him, but the strike was completely dodged.

Joseph then jumped forwards and drew his weapon.

He slashed at the arm, connecting and causing the monster to react with pain.

Enraged further, it slashed for him, missing. It shot a fireball at the ground, but Joseph jumped into the air to dodge it.

"He shouldn't be able to hit me again, I've got this!"

The Ash Kecha then unleashed a water attack, hitting Joseph out of the air.

"The fuck!?" Joseph thought, crashing into the ground.

The monster let out a mocking roar, as Joseph attempted to collect his thoughts.

"These things're meant to shoot out fire, right? What's up with that…? Must be a deviant or somethin'. Woulda helped if we'd been told, though Terrence already probably knows bout it. Hold it, why didn't he tell me then? I don't think he'd've lied, so he musta just forgotten. Whatever, that's not important now, least until he catches up with us."

He stood up with the held of his weapon and assumed a fighting stance. "It's just like fightin' a normal one. Just with fire. And a lot faster. And without anywhere to grab on above us so it's just sticking to the ground. And with Nargy. And slightly bluer. Yeah, nothin's changed!"

Nargy was already attacking the target, so all Joseph had to do was run forwards and start wildly swinging on the other side.

Skull-Mask suddenly turned around to attempt to strike him, but Joseph's aura activated this time, allowing him to dodge, making sure to stick to the ground.

The fighting continued onwards for a little while longer, the monster slowly losing the battle against the human-monster combo.

Finally Terrence showed up, running out from through the trees.

Joseph noticed and turned his attention for a second.

* * *

"Hey Terrence, y'know bout this guy, yeah? Can ya tell me why he's spitting out water!?"

"What do you mean? It's an Ash Kecha, that means it can only use fire!"

"Well this one can!"

Joseph dodged around one, then signalled at where it landed.

"Are you sure it's Skull-Mask!?"

"Well, yeah! His mask is kind of a skull!"

"...What if this is mistaken identity!?"

"So yer tryna say there's two Ash Kechas with ear patterns that look like a skull round here!?"

"Well, no, but, yes I mean-"

"Get on with it!"

"Maybe!?"

"Ya even listenin' to what yer sayin'!? Hell's that work!?"

"Well what have you got!?"

"Skull-Mask can use water attacks!"

"But he can't, this was never recorded!"

"Maybe he learned to!"

"That's not how that works!"

"Well it's what's happening!"

As the conversation failed to end, the Ash Kecha suddenly struck out at both, shot down some fire and took off into the skies, flying away at a speed that wasn't impossible to catch up with, but Joseph felt it was for the best to try to work out what was going on for now.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Joseph and Nargy simultaneously collapsed.

* * *

Terrence thought to himself for a while, trying to work out what's going on.

Eventually, he said something.

"That Kecha isn't Skull-Mask."

"This shit again? Listen, I'm tellin' ya. Ain't no chance of that."

"No, there's a way. A Kecha's ear patterns are genetic, so that'd explain it."

"Still doesn't explain the water…"

"I'm getting there… it's rare, but there is the possibility of it being a crossbreed between the subspecies."

"Ya serious?"

"Yeah. There's only been a few sightings, but it was there in the book. They can use both fire and water. Their fur colour varies, but it's different from the normal ones. The Ash Kecha's fur back there… it was darker than normal, right?"

"Dunno, never seen one."

"Well, I'm the same, but apparently their fur is meant to be pale blue. This was darker than that."

"Well, that'd make sense, I guess. Also explains why it was so active."

"Yeah, I should probably use that too."

"Wait what's that mean?"

"Come on, we're going."

"When did you take charge here?"

"Don't worry, I've got a plan."

"What is the plan?"

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I'm not worrying, I want to know what the plan is."

* * *

Terrence continued to walk on while Joseph followed him wishing to learn about the plan, until they reached the village.

Terrence walked up to the village elder.

"So, how did the hunt go?" She asked.

"It failed. We can't hunt that Kecha."

Joseph looked more confused.

"So, it appears we'll have to call in the Guild to deal with him."

"No, it's not that. This Ash Kecha isn't Skull-Mask!"

Terrence then went on the explain everything that had previously been covered.

"I… see then. Well, I suppose that it's true there isn't as much reason to hunt this one."

"So, we'll just have to leave it there."

"No, I'm afraid that can't be done. Regardless of whether it's Skull-Mask or not, a Kecha is still foreign to this place. he could disrupt the ecosystem if left there. Not only that, but a rare one like that could be especially dangerous."

There was a silence.

"Well, day's still young." Joseph interrupted the silence "If we head out now we can finish it while it's tryna recover. C'mon, let's go."

Joseph started to walk off, but Terrence remained still.

Joseph turned around and waited for a few seconds, before Terrence finally said something. "No."

"Huh?"

"No, I'm still not going to hunt this thing!"

"Fine then, if ya don't wanna I'll just do it!"

"No, I won't let it get hunted!

"...No it kinda has to be."

"Hey, you've got Nargy, right?"

"Oh that's what ya mean."

Terrence turned to face the Elder "If I take it under my protection, then there's no problem, right? So I've just gotta do that."

"Yes, there isn't a problem with the concept. That's only assuming you'll be able to make it work though."

"Yeah, but still, won't know if I don't try." Terrence then turned around and started to run, Joseph and Nargy now tailing him.

* * *

They obviously were unable to run the entire way, so after a while they slowed to a walk.

"So, ya got any reason for doing this, other than it just being a nice thing to do?" Joseph asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess. I'm guessing you've already spotted the parallel between us with our heritage, that's kinda obvious, but that alone isn't really enough for it. If you think about it, other than that, we're pretty much opposites. He must've been fighting with his life on the line for a while, judging from those scars. Meanwhile, here I am, having barely fought anything during my life, and nothing I've done has really ever mattered to anything. So, I want to get to know him better, and killing him won't do that. Plus, I figure that if I can save something, then that'll finally be something important I've done."

Joseph was silent.

"What, you didn't think that I could think something through like that?"

"Well, no, but it's like, ya first encountered him two hours ago."

"Okay fair enough I guess."

They walked further, before finding a sleeping Kecha Wacha.

Their target.

"What do we do?" Joseph asked.

"You're asking me?"

"Yer the Kecha man, plus this is your mission, for the best if you do it."

"Well, I guess we gotta wake him up."

There was a silence.

"Aren't you going to?"

"Yer the Kecha man."

Terrence sighed and walked towards the Kecha, but as he neared he noticed something.

His eyes were open.

Terrence lept backwards as the monster slashed downwards.

Joseph drew his weapon, but Terrence yelled at him to stop. "Don't try fighting him yet!"

Terrence instead stopped completely and yelled at the Kecha. "Up until now, all you've now violence, right? But I'll show you that there's more than that, if you just listen to me!"

The Kecha roared in response.

"Figures…" he muttered, drawing his weapon.

"So yer stopping this violence with more violence?"

"Well yeah, even if it sounds dumb that's the only thing that'll get through to him!"

"Okay, sure thing, but if it looks bad I'll stop ya."

Terrence drew his bowstring backwards and shot at the Kecha.

He continued to shoot, until the Kecha lept through the air, slashing for him.

Terrence rolled around the attack, it barely missing and then stabbed at the side of the Kecha.

It reacted with some slight pain, before turning and shooting out a blast of fire, hitting Terrence's side.

Terrence responded by rolling away and hitting the ground to get rid of the flames, before standing back up.

As he did, he could no longer see the Kecha.

He heard a noise to his right and quickly spun around to narrowly dodge a claw strike.

Instead of entering close combat again, Terrence chose to roll away and fight from a distance.

He hurriedly applied a power coating and began to shoot, as the monster finally canceled its momentum to stop moving.

The Kecha shot out a blast of water, but Terrence was easily able to dodge with a backstep.

More arrows battered the monster, wearing it down. Refusing to be phased, it roared as loudly as possible and dove forwards.

Terrence jumped to the side, but as the Kecha passed him, he stuck his claws into the ground and swung around, slashing him with his free claw.

Terrence light out a cry of pain and crashed into the ground.

He looked up to see the Kecha above him, ready to strike down.

Refusing to let it end, he suddenly rose to his feet, carrying a single arrow.

Without thinking, he drove it into the chest of the monster, pushing him back slightly and surprising him a lot.

He then quickly removed the arrow and kicked the Kecha backwards; before grabbing his bow, pulling out another arrow and firing it straight at him.

The Kecha retaliated with another blast of fire, but hit nothing this time.

The Kecha dived straight for his opponent again, hoping to gain an advantage by closing the distance.

This ended up backfiring, completely losing sight of the hunter.

The Kecha quickly scanned around, looking for any sign of the hunter.

After a few minutes, he assumed the fight was over, and started to flap his wings to fly away, but as he took off he was brought back down by a volley of arrows.

Hitting the ground with a thud, he worked out where his opponent had been hiding all along.

He bounded through the trees, where he saw Terrence standing a short distance.

Without event thinking, possibly driven by anger, he sprinted forwards, dodging straight around an arrow fired off, ultimately dooming itself.

The arrow flew straight past it as intended, directly into the barrel bombs that had been set up there.

The Kecha only noticed once he heard the noise, but was too late to avoid anything, getting caught in the blast.

* * *

The monster briefly fell unconscious, before waking up an unknown amount of time later.

Terrence was standing over it, waiting.

"You know" He began "Usually Kecha's use tricks and deception while they fight, at least from what I've read. But your style of fighting's really upfront, really all you want to do is do damage. I don't think that's the best idea, as if you used everything you would've seen that coming a mile away. But I guess that isn't your fault, it's probably all you've know to do, huh?"

The Kecha was silent, not moving but still breathing.

"So, here's my idea. You stop being out here tryna fight everything, and I'll try to help you get stronger properly. That good? Like I'd hope it's good because if if not I kinda gotta kill you. Sorry, not my decision, but hey you might want to die who knows I don't know you that well. But I want to-! So, come with me, we'll get stronger, or something I guess."

The Kecha was silent for a while longer, then lifted himself to his feet. Terrence seemed slightly happier, even if the Kecha didn't react really.

He took two steps forwards, then collapsed back down.

"Ah, you're still injured aren't you."

He took out a potion, and got the Kecha to drink it. "Well, take this, I guess. It won't work for long, but at least we can get you back to the village."

He tried to pick up the Kecha, but wasn't able to carry him very far, almost being crushed.

The Kecha was able to stand up on his own, and he followed Terrence back to the village, where he finally collapsed.

Joseph walked up to see them there. "So, ya got him back, huh? Ya coulda just asked me."

Terrence responded with "Yeah, I get that. But it's fine, so long as he's here. So yeah, starting from tomorrow it's gonna be a new start!"

"I think it's gonna be starting from when he's healed…"

"Good point…"

"So yeah, anyways, ya thought of a name for him?"

"Huh, not really, I guess. Uh…"

Terrence thought for a few minutes.

"I got it! His name is Demi-Skull!"

"Ain't that a bit much?"

"...Yeah, you might be right. What about… Demi, then?"

"Sure, works."

"Well, nice to meet you, Demi." He said to the sleeping monster, who couldn't hear a thing due to being asleep.

So, a few weeks passed by peacefully, rounding out the year.

* * *

 **7th January, 1349**

* * *

Joseph walked towards the edge of the cliff, carrying his things with him, Nargy following him.

"Been fun, but we gotta get goin', huh? Didn't think we'd be here so long… but I mean everything worked out, so that's good."

He then unsurprisingly heard some footsteps behind him, and sighed as Terrence walked up to him, followed by Demi.

"So, where are you going?"

"Uh, that way. Listen, I can't stay here much longer, y'know? I wasn't meant to stay here for long, and now things've worked out, so I got no reason to stay, y'hear? I already signed out, so I'm headed to the next place now."

"Seriously, what's up with hunters just leaving this village without a word…"

Joseph realised something about his actions.

"Ah, shit, sorry about that, I didn't even realise. Shoulda told ya I was leavin', but I'm no good with leavin', so I just decided to only tell the Elder."

"Well, that's not my problem here…"

Joseph was confused.

"Hey, I wanna see the world too, you know? So, take me with you!"

"...Listen now, I get that the world might seem like an interesting place, but ya got a good life here, y'know? This place is pretty nice, and ya got a village that likes ya to hunt for. Outside here's dangerous, even if ya improved over the last few months. Didja know that there's three things on the level of Ukanlos? Even with that, there's shit higher and higher than that, that's what yer gonna be dealin' with."

"Well, it's not that, but I just want to understand it. I know that I can't be him, but I still want to get to know Aron!"

"Yer still concerned about that?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, thinking about it, I really know barely anything about him. Even the reason he left here I don't know, I just spent all this time figuring that he did it so I could succeed him, but when I think about it he never mentioned a thing about me becoming a hunter… so, that's what I want to find out! Besides, it's not like I can't be strong, cause I've got a way of being strong without the aura!" he finished, signalling to Demi.

"Still, ya really sure about this? Ain't normal for someone to just leave what they got and go travelin'."

"Well, I'll prove it to you! Right here, I'll show you the strength of Demi and me! Here's the rules. You and Nargy come at us not holding anything back, and we have to try to hit you three times. If you hit us three times first, we lose, and we'll just stay here, but if we win we're coming with you!"

"Fine, fine. Though still, ya sure ya want me to hold nothing back? If I use my aura too much ya could die."

"Nope, nothing! The world's dangerous, right? So I gotta fight you at full strength to prove myself!"

"...Sure bout that? I mean, ya never hunted with him before, right? Don'tcha want me to get a handicap or somethin'?"

"No, I've gotta fight you at full strength, if I don't then there won't be a point."

"Got it, got it."

He pulled his sword of his back, still sheathed.

Nargy tensed up behind him.

"Whenever yer ready."

* * *

Terrence thought for a minute, planning things out.

"Okay, let's go for it. 3 seconds?"

"Yeah sure."

"3…"

Terrence prepared himself.

"2…"

He checked Demi, who seemed to get what was going on.

"1…"

They wouldn't lose.

"Go!"

* * *

Terrence drew back on his bow and fired off, but missed, as the two opponents sprinted towards them.

Somewhat panicking, he turned to Demi and yelled "Start flying!"

Seemingly understanding the command, Demi began to flap his wings and jumped, now off the ground.

But he was too late, Joseph already swinging at Terrence.

Terrence stepped back to dodge the strike, just dodging it. In the opening presented by the attack, Terrence attempted to strike, but was dodged by the aura.

Joseph then used his aura to strike, hitting Terrence on the side.

While this was happening, Nargy ran up to Demi.

Demi pounced through the air and swung his tail around, hitting him backwards. Taking advantage of the oppurtunity, Demi then hit him with a blast of water, slowing him down.

Terrence saw this happen, and realised how quickly this would end at close quarters, so he ran towards Demi.

Nargy attempted to strike at him, but due to being slowed down he was easily dodged.

Terrence then jumped onto the back of Demi. "Let's get away from them!" he yelled, as they took off.

"Hey… ain't that a bit much for yer first fight…?" Joseph muttered.

He then lept on Nargy's back "Well, don't got a choice but to pursue, do we!?"

Nargy took off the cliff, pursuing the two.

While Demi did have range, Nargy could easily outspeed him.

Luckily, Demi was more stable in the air, enabling Terrence to shoot while on his back, even if they hadn't yet practiced.

Terrence shot off an arrow, being dodged around easily.

More arrows were fired, though there was barely a chance of hitting him to begin with.

Nargy then finally closed in on them.

Terrence muttered something.

Joseph saw Nargy close in on the two.

Unsurprisingly, Demi dodged it.

He looked over to get a look at them, and found that the only Demi was there.

He tried to work out what was going on, until he looked up.

There was Terrence, lining up a shot, falling through the air.

The arrow shot down, hitting Nargy on the back and throwing Joseph off his back.

"I-I hit it! But, it's not over yet!" Terrence thought to himself, lining his sights up with Joseph.

Joseph realised what was happening, and realised that he might die, but hoped that Terrence had a plan.

Terrence shot off an arrow, but his aura activated, enabling him to dodge past.

At this point, Nargy was already trying to stop himself from crashing, so there was no hope of help there. But, Demi couldn't reach him and save them too, so it was going to end with here no matter what.

Though Joseph was worried about how soon he'd hit the ground.

Terrence shot off some more arrows, but it didn't work.

"Like I thought. Well, there's no choice!"

Terrence then started to fall faster, drawing an arrow.

He attempted to stab at Joseph, but the aura activated again, letting him dodge.

Joseph then drew his weapon and was about to swing down and seize victory.

Terrence saw the strike oncoming, but all he could do was grin.

Joseph was confused somewhat, until he was hit on the side by Demi.

It was Terrence's victory, just about.

Both of them ended up on Demi's back.

"Well I mean… least I'm not dead…" Joseph thought to himself.

* * *

Eventually, they landed on the cliffs a short distance away.

Joseph began the conversation. "So, ya ready to leave?"

"Well, almost. I've just gotta to said goodbye to everyone."

"Why didn'tcha say before you left?"

"I wasn't sure if I'd win this, so I didn't want to get their expectations up just to let them down."

"Well, still slipping away without a word'd be bad, so ya better go."

Terrence walked off silently, somewhat irritated.

As he walked back, this irritation turned into a somewhat sadder mood.

He walked back into the village, and headed to his familiar home.

First, he visited the elder.

"Um, hey so-"

"You off then?"

"...How?"

"Joseph was already leaving, wasn't he? Since you two are so close, it was likely, especially with how much you've changed since the two of you started to talk."

"...Well yeah, I guess so. Really has, huh?"

There was a silence of thinking back.

"You know, when you were first left here by Aron, I think I wanted you to become like him, to bring back the life this village had then. I think everyone did, really. Perhaps we still hold that wish, but I really don't know."

"..."

"I'm sure it should go without saying, but you don't need to bring attention back to this village. Perhaps I won't live to see another person do it, but that doesn't really matter. Regardless, you don't need to be your father. There's nothing saying that you should be him, though I'm sure you've already thought that up by now. Well, whatever. Just head out, get out of this village and see what you want to do, there's nothing tying you here."

"...yeah, okay. Thanks for everything!" He yelled, running off.

* * *

This left one place to go to.

Terrence looked up to the place he called home, readying himself.

He knocked on the door.

Ann was the one who answered.

There was a silence, while Terrence felt somewhat awkward.

"Oh, so you're leaving, then?"

"Okay, how did you work it out?"

"It was pretty obvious."

"It wasn't that obvious…"

"Well, anyways, you've got to be here for a reason, right? So you might as well get it over with now."

"Well, I've just come to say thank you. Since Aron left, you've let me stay here, so thank you very much! You and everyone else has been so kind to me, so it'd feel wrong if I didn't say a thing."

"Ah, it was nothing. After all, this place's an orphanage after all, that's kind of it's job. Well, still, it was going to come some day, wasn't it?"

"Yeah… honestly, I never thought about leaving this place, but since my goal has changed it's not like I have much of a choice."

"No, it's not that… this village really isn't much of a place, that's why we can't get hunters for very long. If you want to do anything, then you've gotta head out."

"No, I don't agree with that. This village, it's a really nice place, I'm sure that someone can live a good life as a hunter here."

"Ah, don't go saying that yet, you don't know anywhere else."

"Yeah, that's… a good point."

"By the way, what is your goal, anyways? I'm not sure of it at this point…"

"Well, it's pretty simple. I'm going to find Aron, and find out why he left. From then, I'm not sure, but for now that's what I want to do."

"Well, that sounds good. There's really not much else I can say here."

She then moved forward to give him a hug, clenching him tightly.

"Just be sure to stay safe out there, you hear?"

This carried on for a little while, before Terrence got out of it.

As he walked off, Ann continued speaking despite her earlier.

"Oh yeah, be sure to write, don't forget about us! One last thing!"

Terrence turned around slightly.

"You don't need to keep calling your dad Aron, do you?"

"...Oh yeah, I do that…" Terrence thought "I'm not sure why. I mean, it's not like he's my ideal anymore, but I still think of him as such a far off person, so I guess I'm not that comfortable with it…"

"Well, that's fine. Just see how you feel about it when you catch him up, got it?"

She grinned, met with another grin from Terrence.

* * *

Eventually, Terrence made his way back to Joseph, who was almost asleep.

Nargy noticed him, and then shaked him lightly awake.

"Oh, ya back?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go."

"...Ya wanna go fly over yer village?"

"Why would we need to do that?"

"Don't, really. It'd just look cool or somethin'."

"Well, sure."

So, he climbed onto Demi's back, and Joseph hopped onto Nargy's.

The two wyverns took off, and Joseph pointed Nargy back towards the village, Demi following afterwards.

Terrence looked down.

From above, the village really wasn't much to look out. A tiny existence planted on the top of a towering mountain, just on the edge of an expansive mountain range.

Still, it was the place that he was comfortable in, the place he called home.

In the midst freezing cold, it gave off a feeling of warmth he had never found anywhere else.

Terrence looked down on the buildings and the people, some noticing and most continuing with their daily life.

It was peaceful, and he was glad that it had stayed that way until now and hoped that it would continue.

They passed it, flying until it could barely be seen.

Terrence thought to himself.

"Hey, Joseph, what's your motive for hunting? You have to have one, right?"

"...Yeah, course I do. Never really worked it out until few years back, was just sorta living this way cause it was all I could do, but now I get it. I've gotta get strong, using this aura I got. If I don't get strong, then I won't be able to do a thing to protect anyone I care about. If don't control this aura, then I'll just end up hurtin' em. So, I've gotta do both, at least that's why I'm out here."

Joseph thought a little while longer.

"I guess I get attached really easily. I mean, even Nargy here I only knew a day before helpin' him out. That's why it hurts so bad whenever they end up dying. I just feel… really angry about everythin', like there's nothin' I can do. So, I don't wanna feel that way, so I've gotta keep goin'."

"I don't really have anything like that… I mean, for me it's just wanting to see Aron…"

"That ain't selfish."

"Huh?"

"Well, he's yer dad, right? So it makes sense after he just left ya there that ya want to see him. Plus, everyone back there wants ya to succeed right? So just think of it as not lettin' em down."

"Well, I guess there's that. Plus, there's one more thing, I guess…"

"Go on, what's it?"

"I wanna see what the world is like! I barely remember anything outside the village, so I wanna know what it's like. Plus, there's so much I don't know about anything. So I just wanna know more things, so the only way I'll be able to do that is by seeing it myself."

"See, like I said, ain't nothin' selfish about that."

"Yeah, thanks."

Terrence then looked forwards, now that they flying out of the mountains.

He saw an expansive land unfold before him, the sun brightly burning above it.

He grinned, atop the back of Demi, as they flew to yet unknown places.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **So yeah, this chapter's really late, sorry about that. I didn't intended for this to happen, but I got caught up with school starting again and whenever I tried to to write it just kept going, until it became the second longest chapter.**

 **So that was fun.**

 **Normal updates should be resuming next week.**


	21. Marshlands and Ancient Forest, 1349

**January 20th, 1349**

* * *

Anthony walked through the swamp, Wave following after him.

He saw some rocks, and charged at them.

Upon hitting the rocks repeatedly, he realised they weren't a Gravios.

He was about ready to give up, but since it was paying well he couldn't.

It was a quest to hunt a Gravios in the Marshlands.

He thought it'd just be an intense fight, but that thought was about 18 hours ago now.

So here he was, hitting every rock he could find, in hopes that it was a Gravios.

Eventually, he heard some footsteps in the distance.

He went to check, finding a Gravios walking around.

"It-It was walking around the whole time!?" He thought.

"Whatever, just gotta do it, then I can finally sleep."

Anthony charged forwards, Wave chasing after him.

The Gravios noticed them.

* * *

Anthony braced himself for it to charge forwards, but instead it shot a laser out of its mouth.

Anthony wanted to yell something like "WHAT THE HELL!?", but that wouldn't have given him enough time to dodge, and that looked like an advisable course of action in this situation.

Anthony dived to the right, and Wave decided dived into the water.

With only one opponent still visible, the Gravios finished the attack and turned its attention to Anthony

It pulled its head back and went for another beam attack, this time horizontal.

Anthony dived to the ground, it narrowly missing his back.

He still kept going, getting back to his feet and running forwards.

The Gravios noticed him and thought of a way to counter.

It swung around with its tail, almost catching him in the side.

Luckily, Anthony saw it coming and was able to dive backwards.

He got back up again and sprinted towards the Gravios, swinging at it. He hit it and knocked it back somewhat, its head now raised into the air.

At that moment, the Gravios released some gas from its sides.

Anthony inhaled it before he could stop himself, then suddenly felt kind of tired.

He instantly collapsed.

* * *

Wave watched this happen. He didn't really know what to do at this point, but he figured he'd have to do something.

The Lagiacrus leapt out of the water and shot out some electricity.

The attack raced towards the Gravios, and hit successfully, doing seemingly nothing.

The Gravios simply shrugged the attack off, it appearing to be ineffective.

Wave continued to shoot out electricity, but this proved ineffective on the Gravios. Since Wave seemed to be throwing everything he had at something that resisted everything he had, the Gravios decided to stand there, wait for him to tire himself out then finish him off.

But the Gravios failed to realise the true intention behind the attacks, right up the last second.

It only noticed something was going against the plan, when it felt the impact of a hammer.

It quickly landed to see Anthony standing up, a spark or two of electricity showing up on his body.

Wave hadn't been shooting to attack the Gravios, but instead to wake up the one whose attacks could do something.

Before the Gravios could have the time to think of a counterattack, they both rushed forwards.

Anthony reached it first, and went in for the swing, hitting successfully. At that moment, the Gravios released sleep gas, knocking him out.

Wave felt like none of his actions had any meaning in the grand scheme of the universe.

* * *

While Wave was wondering if it was worth continuing, the Gravios tried to make sure this strategy would go better this time.

The Gravios charged straight for Wave, recognising its advantage.

Wave quickly dodged the attack, the difference in speed being too great. He quickly moved towards Anthony, hoping that things would work out better.

Knowing this would happen, the Gravios quickly fired off a beam, putting distance between them.

Wave recognised this. The Gravios was trying to send the message that instead of just waking up Anthony, Wave should try to fight it on his own, despite the disadvantage.

Wave recognised this as a bad idea already, the scars that covered his body were a reminder of what can come of acting like this, yet he could not stop himself.

Even if a disgraced Lord of the Seas still felt pride.

* * *

Wave quickly raced forwards, charging straight at the other wyvern.

The Gravios thought there was nothing Wave could do except bash into it, but instead Wave leapt into the air and clamped his jaws onto the Gravios' back.

Quickly, Wave discharged electricity through his jaws.

The Gravios felt pain. It roared with anger and then released heat from its sides, causing Wave to be burnt and jump away, into the water.

Even if the armour was tough, it could still be broken.

Wave waited in the water, hoping for another opportunity to appear.

The Gravios scanned the water, waiting for movement.

It continued to wait.

The Gravios got bored and shot off a beam, hitting the water, hoping to connect with something.

At that moment, Wave burst forth, headed straight for it.

The Gravios couldn't end the attack yet, so this was what Wave was waiting for.

The Gravios pulled its aim towards Wave, hoping to stop him.

Even on land, Wave was still incredibly quick, the beam only connecting with his tail.

Wave closed in on the Gravios, but as he was about to close in the Gravios released heat from its chest.

It thought it had hit Wave, but this attack missed completely, Wave stopped just before.

The Gravios awkwardly stood in place for a moment, unable to move.

Wave took this chance to pounce forwards with as much forward as possible.

He crashed into the chin of the Gravios, causing it to topple over.

Wave wasn't done yet, an opportunity having opened up.

He descended through the air and clamped his jaws once again on the Gravios, this time on the stomach.

This provided a fair amount less resistance, it cracked just from the bite alone.

But, there was still much more to go.

Wave discharged all the electricity he could, hoping to finish things here.

The Gravios roared in pain, and Wave felt his grip slipping, before finally he ran out of energy and dropped back.

Wave tried to quickly recover, still hoping for the best, but it was as he feared.

The Gravios rose back to its feet, still not yet done.

Wave stared it down, trying to think of a way out.

The Gravios stepped closer and closer, not giving him the chance to find one.

Wave had been defeated.

It looked like the fight was over, but at that moment the Gravios found itself being hit in the face and knocked backwards.

Anthony was somehow standing between them.

* * *

He turned to Wave "Hey, stand up already! Aren't you meant to be the Lord of the Seas? I get that you've got your pride, so get over here and fight for it already!"

Wave felt some strength come back, and moved forwards, ready to attack.

The Gravios saw that it was outnumbered and did what it felt would work best.

Running away.

"Get back here damn it!" Anthony yelled, chasing after it.

It then began to dig into the ground and disappeared.

It was at this moment that Anthony realised he forgot to paintball it.

He quickly ran into the surrounding areas, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Anthony began screaming, before going back to hitting rocks, this time more fuelled by anger than anything.

* * *

 **February 7th, 1349**

* * *

Callum ran through the Ancient Forest, excited to finally get to hunt there.

He extended his arm, then a grappling hook shot out of it, hitting a nearby tree and pulling him through the air towards it.

Before connecting he let go, then grappled onto another tree, stopping himself from crashing.

He continued like this for a while, going slower than he would running normally but having way more fun than he would running normally.

He knew he had made the right choice coming out here, even if it took him a while.

Now, with the advantage of this grappling hook, he'd be way stronger.

Sanchez stuck to the ground, running forwards.

Their first target was a Rathalos, one of the few monsters out here he recognised.

He continued swinging for a little while, figuring he'd get a better line of sight from above, before finally sighting a Rathalos.

"There he is! After him!" Callum yelled at Sanchez, pointing vaguely in the right direction.

* * *

The Rathalos turned his head around to see a hunter flying straight at him.

He dodged around it, but as the hunter flung by a line shot out, connecting with the wyvern's wing.

The Rathalos felt himself be pulled back slightly, but the line was being contracted at a quick speed.

In a few seconds, the Rathalos had his right wing cut.

The Rathalos then felt the hook that hits wing before hits his back.

Reacting quickly he twisted himself around, attempting to throw the line off, but it was firmly stuck.

The hunter, however, was flung around like a ragdoll, now at the mercy of fate.

Then, by some miracle, the Rathalos took off towards the sky, pulling Callum upwards.

While this was somewhat of a problem, Callum ended up managing to avoid hitting any trees and was able to begin contracting the line.

The Rathalos then suddenly spun around, causing him to get flung into the air, the line finally detaching.

The wyvern turned around to face him, now in his element.

The Rathalos shot out some fireballs, which ended up connecting, having no way of dodging.

The Rathalos then moved in for a tail strike, but as this happened Callum managed to shoot out his grappling hook and connected with the Rathalos' stomach.

He pulled himself in, just dodging a tail strike and pierced the stomach with everything he had, pushing the Rathalos down through the air.

Just before landing, he jumped off to try to avoid crashing, and while it wasn't perfect he was certainly doing better than the Rathalos.

* * *

The King of the Skies that had been pulled out of the sky quickly lept up and the two continued to fight normally for a while, without much happening.

After a solid few minutes of battling, the Rathalos suddenly roared, becoming enraged.

While there was the option of fighting here and trying to deal with the increased aggressiveness, Callum felt the much safer option was just to run for it, so he did that.

He slipped through the jungle, the Rathalos pursuing him furiously.

There was always the option of taking the air, but considering the opponent and the situation it hardly seemed optimal, despite the enjoyment he'd get out of it.

The chase continued for a short while, Callum occasionally being slightly burnt by a fireball or almost having a limb crunched off, but getting somewhere.

Eventually he found a cave and dived in, just dodging another attack.

He slid down the cave before managing to get back on his feet and survey the situation.

Already being tired, he knew that he wouldn't be lasting much longer, so he tried to think of a ways out.

He looked up, and figured out a plan.

* * *

The Rathalos stormed in, still enraged.

It saw Callum standing there and sprinted straight for him, at which point he grinned.

Callum raised his grappling hook to the ceiling and fired.

He waited, but he didn't go up.

This was not going to plan.

Callum started pulling on his grappling hook, trying desperately to get it contract, figuring something had gone wrong with it.

It was at that moment the ceiling collapsed.

Callum realised the flaws with his plan at that moment, but it was quickly crushed alongside him.

He waited there for a little while, before finally some of the rocks were cleared away.

He saw Sanchez, having finally caught up and dug up the Rathalos, finally having died.

Callum carved and signalled the quest was a success.

"Y'know what…?" He thought "Grappling hooks ain't all that."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah, another chapter done I guess. Sorry this one was also late, but it's an improvement, might get back to normal next chapter hopefully.

On the bright side, I'm now the first one here to use grappling hooks and other World shit. Isn't great, but it happened.

I might not be the best, but I'm certainly the first.


	22. Moga, 1349

**March 14th, 1349**

* * *

Ben walked through Moga, a town that was floating on the ocean.

Apparently, at one point, it had only been a small hunting village, but it gained popularity when a hunter from it managed to drive back a Ceadeus that was troubling the village despite overwhelming odds, which gained it a lot of popularity, even if they spent the better part of their life afterwards in Loc Lac.

So, because of that, the village had expanded greatly. While it did sometimes encounter trouble, there were now enough hunters that nothing short of another Elder Dragon attack could deter it.

This is where Ben now found himself, having been hunting there for a while now.

It looked like another day like normal, when suddenly two girls walked up to him. They seemed normal enough appearance with the exception of their eyes, which were for some reason purple.

There was a momentary pause before Ben walked around them and kept on going.

"Hey, where are you going!?" The longer haired one yelled.

Ben turned around and pointed to himself.

"Yeah, you! We stopped you, that means we want to talk to you, yeah!?"

"I don't think that's how things work here…" The shorter haired one muttered.

"Huh… Noche sure is a weird place... Whatever… we just gotta talk to you, okay?"

"Sure."

"So yeah anyway, you're like a hunter who hunts alongside a…" She thought for a second before turning to the other one. "Shayusaur?"

"They call it Plesioth here." She responded.

"Yeah, you hunt with a Plesioth, that's the one. So anyways, we wanna work with you, because we've got ones of our own!"

"Cool."

"...Is that it?"

"Well yeah, I don't really know ya, so there ain't much reason to get excited."

"Well, I guess that makes sense…"

"By the way, who're you? Cause you haven't really explained much…"

"I'm Natasha!" The long haired one responded "And that one's Natalie, my sister."

"N-nice to meet you…" She murmured.

"So yeah, we can go kill monsters now, right?" She then started running out of the village.

"Where are you going!?" Ben yelled.

"To kill monsters!"

"You need a quest first!"

"Oh, I forgot about that."

"..."

Natasha stopped and walked back.

They got a quest to hunt a Tetsucabra and set out.

* * *

They walked a little ways into the Deserted Island, before the two suddenly stopped.

"They should be around here…" Natasha muttered, before an Arzuros appeared.

"Is that it?" Ben asked.

"No." She responded, before running at it angrily screaming and swinging her weapon around.

She was using an axe, which at first looked the same as Ben's axe, but upon observing closer he started to suspect that it was a charge blade, not a switch axe.

His suspicions increased when she turned it into a sword and shield.

"Is this allowed?" Natalie asked.

"Yeah, so long as we say it was self defense."

"Oh… that helps."

* * *

She ran forwards, pulling her weapon off her back, a hunting horn.

The Arzuros tried to fight for a good while, but couldn't do much, being easily pushed back.

After a short while, something else entered the arena.

It landed a short distance away, and Ben turned towards it with his weapon drawn.

Upon closer inspection, he realised it was a Crimson Qurupeco.

He was about to start attacking it before something bad happened, but he was stopped.

Ben was obviously confused, so Natalie explained. "That's my monster, Frega."

"Oh, makes sense, I guess."

There was a silence while Ben took this in.

"It's a Qurupeco, right?"

"Crimson, yeah."

"So why not have it control the Arzuros…"

"She can only imitate cries she knows…"

"Why not just have her use one of those…"

"It's kind of a gamble."

Ben didn't really get what this meant, but he figured he should just leave it.

Eventually, the Arzuros dropped to the ground, having been overwhelmed.

They quickly carved it before setting out.

* * *

On the way there, Ben heard the noise of running.

He turned to see Plessy excitedly running straight at them.

He ran up to them, then looked more hesitant due to the others. "Nah, don't think they're planning anything bad." Ben said. Plessy seemed reassured, though the other three felt somewhat offended that they were apparently so naturally suspicious.

Walking around for a little while longer, they saw a Tetsucabra.

They also saw that its tusks were much longer then they were normally, and that it was more blue than it was normally.

"Is that a subspecies?" Natalie asked.

"Nah, think it's a deviant…" Ben responded.

"What's that?" Natasha asked.

"Ya seriously dunno? It's when a monster survives some fights, then evolves. Like, above subspecies at this point."

"Huh, never seen one before. Well, Deviljhos only learn by eating!"

"What?"

Instead of answering, Natasha just simply rushed forwards, straight at the Tetsu.

It saw her coming, so before she reached it it dug its tusks into the ground and pulled up a chunk of it, creating a wall between them.

Natasha quickly ran around this, heading to the right.

Ben and Natalie ran forwards, with the intention of supporting her.

The Tetsu seemed to have anticipated this, as it pulled up the ground once again, this time holding onto it.

Natasha moved in closer, at which point it raised its head into the air, then crashed its head down, crunching down on it, almost hitting her.

She slashed at its side, and it tried to bite at her, being unsuccessful but at least halting her attacks momentarily.

At this moment, it pulled up the ground once again, this time forming another wall.

The others caught up, and Natasha ran around this to find it was gone.

* * *

"It must've dug under the ground…" Ben muttered.

"Did it leave the area?" Natasha responded.

"Dunno, your guess's good as mine."

She didn't understand what she said, but wasn't able to ask as they heard a noise some slight distance away.

The Tetsu was standing in place, moving its body in a somewhat menacing fashion.

They drew their weapons once again, figuring that it was going to come at them.

They weren't wrong, but they were expecting either a dig through the ground or an all out charge, instead of a leap through the sky.

But even so, they was what they were undoubtedly faced with.

They tried to dodge, but were unable to clear the impact, being knocked back slightly.

The one closest was Natalie, who took a swing at its head.

This was successful, followed by another two.

The Tetsu ended up dodging out of the way, and retaliated with launching some rocks at her, but these were dodged with some difficulty.

While this had been occurring, Frega had been striking her wings together, getting ready to strike.

Finally, the timing was perfect and she leapt forwards, hitting the Tetsu with a surge of electricity, causing it to recoil with pain.

Natalie then stepped in for two more hits, before stopping to play a song on her horn.

Ben felt his strength increase and Plessy seemed to be the same.

Plessy took a firm stance then raised his head into the air, before finally shooting out a beam of pressurised water, straight at the Tetsu.

It didn't have the time to dodge, taking the attack at more than full power.

Finally, it finished, the Tetsu still standing.

Natasha charged for it, but at that moment the rock which it had put up ages ago began to move. It fell over, set to hit her.

It looked like this was going to happen, but as to be expected at this point, it didn't.

Instead, a large stump that could be counted fist crashed against it, pushing it back.

The rock hit the ground, covered in green slime, which then turned yellow and blew up.

Natasha looked around and finally murmured "Was wondering when you were going to show up…"

She turned to Ben "This is Aki, she is cool."

* * *

The Tetsu watched this happen, and once again created a wall, to try and shield itself.

Not letting this work, Aki ran up to it and punched it.

Just as before the slime stuck to it, before it blew up, revealing the Tetsu was already underground.

Aki noticed some slight movement, then leapt through the air towards it.

She fell short, but stuck her horn into the ground.

For a few seconds, nothing appeared to happen, but then explosions started appearing in front of her, blowing the ground up.

This launched the Tetsu out of the ground, in great pain.

It shook this off and looked forwards, the two monsters now staring each other down.

They both then suddenly leaped into the air and clashed midway. Aki was able to land some hits, but was pushed back by the Tetsu's landing, sustaining a fair amount of language. The slime then went off and exploded, injuring the Tetsu also.

The two began to fight for a while, Aki able to land more hits but the Tetsu's attacks being more effective.

The fight was going nowhere and everyone else was unable to interfere, when suddenly the Tetsu stopped its movement completely. Aki missed her punch. It hit the ground harmlessly. She was now open. This confirmed it, so the Tetsu charged forwards with the intent of pinning Aki to the nearest wall.

Aki tried to strike at him, these were successful, but she was lacking the advantage she had before, as now her fists had dried out, the slime was completely harmless. Aki was slammed against the wall, causing the rocks on it to collapse, almost burying her. She managed to get out, but the damage was clear.

Natasha charged in, slashing at the Tetsu's side, while Aki recovered, the others joining in.

Despite a temporary advantage, things were still stuck in an advantage.

* * *

After a few dozen minutes, Ben was frustrated.

He turned to Natalie and yelled "Hey, ya still got that mimicry trick up yer sleeve, right!? If yer gonna use it some point, now's pretty good!"

Natalie paused "Are you sure about this?"

"Better than what we got now!"

"Okay then…" She turned to Frega and nodded.

Frega moved her head backwards, her vocal sac puffing up and her horn opening, and let out a deep roaring noise.

Natasha, Aki, Natalie and Frega herself all started running for cover. Ben thought for a second about this, before finally recognising it. He started running, and Plessy followed. This left only the Tetsu, highly confused.

They just about managed to scramble into hiding, when a Deviljho stormed into the area.

* * *

The Tetsu looked up at it, and felt somewhat confident. It roared at the Deviljho and then crushed a rock with its jaws, as if trying to show its strength.

The Deviljho was unimpressed.

Continuing on, the Tetsu dug into the ground and started to move towards the Deviljho, confident it couldn't be seen.

The Deviljho waited.

Finally, after waiting to check the angle was right, the Tetsu pounced out of the earth, ready to strike.

The Deviljho looked at it, then raised its foot.

The Tetsu drew near, then right when it was underneath, the Deviljho stepped down, pinning it and stopping it completely.

The Tetsu struggled with everything it had, unable to escape.

The Deviljho then used dragon breath, blasting it for a solid minute.

Just to make sure, it then stomped on it some more.

It was pretty much dead by now, so the Deviljho started to eat.

* * *

"Wait, isn't that bad?" Ben asked quietly.

"It's dead, isn't it?" Natasha responded.

"The Deviljho's eating it." Ben explained.

"Well we could fight it." Natasha declared.

"Any other monsters you could mimic?" Ben asked, ignoring Natasha.

Natalie looked over at Frega and nodded.

Frega mimicked a cry, and in flew a Rathalos.

* * *

The Deviljho and the Rathalos fought for a little while, the Rathalos clearly losing. It refused to get hit by the dragon breath, due to its strong weakness against it.

The fight wasn't going anywhere, but then another monster showed up, this time a Rathian. The two worked together well, so they were able to make it leave the area.

The Raths waited in silence for a moment, recovering, when they noticed the Tetsu corpse.

Ben suddenly leapt out of hiding and began sprinting for it, but by the time he reached them they had already grabbed it and were headed off, dodging around Plessy's attacks as well.

Without really thinking, Ben and Plessy started to chase after them, the other four tailing.

* * *

They eventually reached a nest, where the Raths landed, dropped the body, then took off.

Ben moved forwards, to make sure the monsters weren't still around.

They heard a noise to their left.

It was a nest of tiny Raths, newborn most likely.

Ben continued on, not having any intent to do anything to do them, but then he saw Natasha walk up to them, her weapon raised in axe mode.

She was about to swing down, when she was suddenly stopped by Ben.

"Hey, what're ya doing!?"

"I'm killing these... wyverns before they can grow up and become problems."

"Ya can't just kill them, they're only kids!"

"They're still wyverns, they need to be killed as they're a problem."

Ben was about to argue back, but then they were interrupted by the two Raths landing. They roared, so they quickly moved to the corpse of the Tetsu, putting it behind them.

"What do we do now, if we're not allowed to kill them!?" Natasha yelled.

"This!" Ben yelled, signalling to Plessy, who knocked all of them off with one large tail strike. They fell until they hit the ocean. When they hit, Aki panicked and immediately climbed for land, while everyone else seemed fine.

The Tetsu corpse began to float on the sea, so they carved it, but they didn't have any way of taking it back now.

They made it back to town, then Ben finally went to sleep, feeling tired.

* * *

 **March 15th, 1349**

* * *

Ben walked out of his hut, figuring that today would be more normal, when once again he was stopped by the two blocking his path.

"So whaddya want now?" Ben asked.

"I want to ask more about why you didn't kill those wyverns." Natasha asked "Because I don't get it."

"Well, simple, ain't it? They're just kids, ain't hurting anyone, so there's no point in just cuttin' their lives short like that…"

"Still though, even if they're not fully grown now, they will still grow into larger wyverns, and then they'll probably end up hurting someone."

"There's a chance, yeah, but at the same time there's also a chance they're all just gonna go off live their lives not bothering nobody."

"That's still quite low… plus, what makes it different from that Arzuros we killed back there?"

Ben thought about it for a moment or two. "Honestly, dunno. Ain't gonna claim to be some super heroic dude with great morals and shit, I just don't like the idea of killing kids like that."

There was a silence. "I still don't get it…" Natasha muttered. She spun to Natalie "Hey, you get this?"

"Well, not really, but if that's the way things are here, then there's no helping it…" She answered.

"Huh, that reminds me, Where're ya from? Cause it sure ain't here, seeing as how you don't know mosta it."

Natalie looked really shocked and somewhat worried, but Natasha just responded "Oh, we're from Día."

"Never heard of it."

Natasha was about to say something, but suddenly Natalie cut in "It's just a country to the west of here. It's quite different to here, which is why we're so confused, so that's why!"

Ben didn't get why she was so worried about this, so he just figured he should leave it.

He started to walk off, when suddenly Natasha started yelling again. "Hey, we're coming with you!"

Ben turned around "Why?"

"Because, I still don't get that sparing monsters thing, so I figure you're the best shot I have at working it out." Natasha explained.

"Also we started hunting with you to work out how to hunt well with our monsters and we didn't really do that… at all." Natalie added.

"Okay then." Ben said, walking off again, this time with two really strange hunters behind him.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So yeah that's another chapter, only slightly late this time, so I mean I'm getting somewhere. School's been difficult I guess, but still now it's the half term, so who knows I might get somewhere with the last two chapters of this arc.

I don't really have that much to say here, the names of the two new characters are super similar because I hate you or something.


	23. Riveru, 1349

**May 17th, 1349**

* * *

Joseph woke up in his hut, then rolled out of bed slowly.

He hit the ground, before crawling to the light of day.

Outside, he could see the city of Riveru.

It was a fair bit smaller than it had been in its prime, due to monster attacks, though Joseph had never seen it in its prime as he never been up to Schrade before, so it didn't matter to him.

He walked around, before finding Terrence, and they set off on a hunt to the mountains.

When they left Pokke, they flew south-east, until they reached the region of Schrade, and they'd been travelling through it ever since, until they reached here.

Riveru was the former capital of Eastern Schrade, a trade city surrounded by the mountains. These made for longer winters, but since it was May that was hardly a problem.

* * *

Currently, they were hunting for a Stygian Zinogre which had been sighted around there. While dragon element was going to be a pain to deal with, they were hardly unable to deal with it, there being four of them.

They soared between the mountains, surveying them, when Joseph spotted a red and white shape below them, and signalled Nargy to go for it.

The Zinogre heard a noise to its right, so it jumped backwards to avoid the hit.

Joseph just about managed to cling on to Nargy's back, and the two

wyverns were now staring each other down.

Nargy as the first to move, but was blocked by crimson lightning. The Zinogre used this to attack, pushing him back. There didn't appear to be an opening, but there was one made by Demi shooting down fire from above.

It's not that this badly injured the Zinogre, but it hadn't seen it coming. The fire rained down, before the Zinogre turned itself around and shot off some projectiles, aiming at them.

Demi barely avoided the first wave, but was taken off guard by one of the second. It exploded upon contact, knocking him out of the air. While he was falling, Demi shot off a blast of mucus, which connected, slowing the Zinogre down. This didn't really make much of a difference in this situation though, as Nargy outsped it either way, though now he outsped it more.

The swift wyvern took off the ground, darting around the opponent, trying to catch it off ground, while Joseph remained clinging on for dear life. After about thirty seconds, Nargy pounced forwards and slammed his tail down on the monster's head.

The Zinogre flinched from the impact, but quickly snapped its head upwards and fired off a blast of dark red lightning, which was narrowly dodged. Joseph took advantage of this opening to swing downwards and slashed at the Zinogre's leg.

Nargy then broke off again and tried to go for the same attack, but by now the effects of the water blight had worn off and it could try to keep up with his movements. Nargy went for another attack, but the Zinogre slammed down on his head, crushing him into the ground.

Nargy couldn't move, but Joseph was able to attack, swinging at the Zinogre's head. He slashed at its eye, causing it to howl with pain and it jumped backwards. The two stared at each other, not moving, until the Zinogre turned and ran off. Joseph then got off of Nargy's back, as he tried to pick himself up and recover. Terrence and Demi finally showed up, Demi still injured.

* * *

The Stygian had been a lot stronger than they had expected, so they were already injured even if they had beaten it back. After about an hour, they seemed recovered, so they took to the sky again. They were flying around, when in the distance Terrence saw something flying at them. He figured it was just a bird, but as it got closer it was clearly some kind of wyvern.

He pointed it out to Joseph, who took one look at it and recognised it. "Oh yeah, that's just a Seregios. Nasty, but it shouldn't have any reason to bug us." Joseph then went back to scanning the landscape, but while he was doing that he remembered how aggressive Seregios normally are. He looked back and saw it flying straight at them, specifically him.

"Demi! Dodge around it!" Joseph yelled. Both of them were confused, until the looked over and saw it flying at them. Demi quickly dropped out of the sky to dodge it.

Nargy followed, but when he dropped the Seregios swung around and continued the pursuit. Realising there wasn't going to be an easy way of escape, Nargy aimed for the ground and landed, running.

The Seregios pursued from above, but found itself having spikes flung at it. They weren't much, but if this kept up it would be difficult to deal with, so it closed in. The Seregios tried to claw at him, but Nargy dodged around. Nargy had never faced a Seregios before, but Joseph knew that if he was hit he would begin to bleed, which would majorly reduce their speed, which Joseph assumed was its attention.

As the Seregios drew close, Joseph noticed a person on its back. The Seregios struck out, narrowly missing, but at that moment the rider moved to attack. They struck out with their weapon, which appeared to be gauntlets. Joseph quickly moved to block the attack, but since the long sword wasn't built for this, it wasn't very effective, though it still got the job done.

The rider now noticed him, and appeared to be planning another attack. They then leapt off of their own monster's back, taking Joseph by surprise, and managed to land on Nargy's back.

Joseph was busy trying to work out what the hell was going on, but this was cut off by the opponent swinging for his head. He was able to dodge because of his aura, taking them off guard for once. Joseph then used his sword to strike at them, pushing them back slightly.

* * *

While this was occurring, Nargy was still running, but he had noticed the extra weight. Joseph was currently facing the direction they were headed, the opponent, the opposite direction. This was fine, but then suddenly Nargy leapt off the ground, taking to the air at a greater speed than he was at before. Joseph had seen this coming, and was able to hold on, but the other was less fortunate, being knocked off by the change in speed.

The Seregios had been about to go for another attack, but had to instead stop to pick up its rider. Once this was done, it charged forwards again. While it seemed like not much had changed, their speed was now about equal, so until Nargy could begin to run again it had a better chance of hitting him.

The Seregios closed in for a strike, only to be blocked by a tail strike. Nargy hit the ground once again and he continued to sprint forwards, deflecting or dodging everything that came at him.

After a few minutes, the situation hadn't changed. Nargy had begun to run downhill, hoping that the pursuers would lose sight of them. There was a few minutes of silence, and finally Nargy stopped completely, trying to recover. Nargacuga were fast, but they were hardly durable, he wouldn't have been able to last much longer than he did.

It all seemed like it was going to work out, when suddenly the Seregios came crashing down from above, ready to strike. Nargy narrowly dodged, jumping backwards, where he waited. The two monsters stared each other down, when suddenly they were disrupted by the rider jumping off the Seregios and walking up to Nargy.

* * *

Nargy and Joseph were both ready to attack, but they did nothing but just inspect him. After a full minute, they lowered their head in some form of shame.

In a surprising yet in hindsight somewhat predictable female voice, the rider spoke "Sorry, I think we got the wrong Nargacuga."

"Wait, what?"

"Well you see, we're searching for this Nargacuga that's been causing the city trouble, and when I saw yours I figured it was the one. Though, the one we're looking for has a scar over his eye, but yours doesn't. So uh, unless you can heal eyes, it looks like we've got the wrong one, sorry."

"Don't just gimme that! Why the hell didn't ya figure that out before you attacked us!"

"Well that Narga's pretty scarred already, we just couldn't see the eye from the distance we were at, and once we got close you started running so fast we couldn't see in front of you!"

"Don't try to pin this on us, only reason we ran is cause ya started tryna attack us!"

"Still, we somehow ended up taking more damage than you, so it's fine!"

"How the hell's that fine!?"

"Listen, it's fine, so I'm leaving."

* * *

The woman turned around, but Joseph interrupted her with "Wait a minute, do I know ya from somewhere?"

"Seriously?"

"No, like seriously. I'm tryna think of from where but I can't work it out. Can ya just take yer helmet off a sec?"

"Yeah, sure."

She sheathed her tonfas, before taking her helmet off, revealing shortish blonde hair and green eyes. Joseph thought for a second, before suddenly working out who it was.

"So ya really are here to kill me!" The woman reacted with shock, and unsheathed her tonfas again "Yer that assassin from back at Tanzia three years back, Viridis or somethin'!"

"Wait, you're one of those hunters that tamed monsters, aren't you? I don't recognise that Nargacuga…" She thought for a while, before figuring it out "Ah, must be…" She muttered, before finally looking up "Listen, I'm not here to kill you, if not I'd have done it by now."

"Oh, guess that makes sense…" Joseph still wasn't sure, but figured just leaving wasn't that good of an option "So uh… how's the killing people doing?"

"I'm not doing that anymore, I managed to escape with a few others… now I'm just a hunter, trying to live my own life…"

* * *

Joseph took this in, as Demi landed. Terrence hopped off his back and started running forward. "You two!" he began "Are you alright, I mean we've been seperated like twenty minutes now!"

"Yeah, don't worry, just mistaken identity or somethin'." Joseph responded.

Terrence was confused, until he noticed the other hunter and the Seregios standing behind her.

"Ah, Vert. What are you doing here… and why do you have a monster behind you?" He asked.

"Could ask the same thing." She responded.

The conversation was going to continue further, but Joseph "Hold it right there, I'm definitely missing somethin' here, ain't I!?" They both looked confused now "How the hell'd the two of ya get to know each other!"

Terrence finally responded "All of the hunters here talk, you're the only one who seems to be out of the loop. She's pretty well known."

"How'd ya get the hunters to talk to ya? Everyone here seems to look at me with disgust at the time and like, never gives me the time of day. Even the dudes in shops try to charge me extra."

"Isn't it obvious?" She questioned "It's because you have a monster, they hate people like that, so they exclude them."

"So ya just hid them all the time?"

"Well yeah," Terrence replied "that's what I did. I thought you already worked out that was how it worked."

"Of course I didn't, else I woulda been able to blend in easier! Hell made ya think that!"

"I guess that makes sense, but for some reason I figured you had and were thinking 'If I can't be accepted by these people for hunting alongside Nargy, then it'll just have to be that way!' or something like that."

"THAT AIN'T EVEN HOW I TALK, WHERE'D THIS FUCKIN' PERFECT IMAGE FROM ME COME OUTTA!"

Terrence gave a look that read something like "You've got me there."

"I MEAN, I'M FLATTERED, BUT YA GOTTA SEPERATE REALITY FROM FICTION, DAMNIT!"

There was then a silence while Joseph caught his breath, and she started to walk off, before finally getting on her Seregios' back and flying off. The other two then got on their monster's backs and took off as well.

* * *

They ended up searching for a while, when they finally saw the Stygian Zinogre. A short distance away from it was a silver Nargacuga. There was a hunter fighting them both, with a Seregios right behind them.

Both of them reacted with pretty much nothing, taking in this situation. "We should probably help…" Terrence muttered, as Demi dove forwards, Nargy followed.

The hunter dodged the Zinogre slamming its leg into the ground, while her Seregios dodged around a wind blade flung at them by the Nargacuga. Both of them then noticed the two monsters dropping in and quickly backed off, before the hunters jumped off to face them briefly.

"Hey, mind if we drop in?" Joseph asked jokingly.

"The Silverwind's our target…" She responded.

"Yeah, yeah, but the hellhound over there's ours, so we're just finishin' what we started."

"Well, can't complain about things being more simple…" She muttered, before they resumed fighting.

Nargy circled around the Zinogre, same as before, but by now it seemed to be able to read his movements. It fired a projectile of dragonblight, which was narrowly dodged. At this moment, Terrence fired off an arrow, catching it in the front left leg, but to not much effect. While the Zinogre looked over, Demi once again used fire, which hit it straight in the face, but the Zinogre still refused to go down.

It still froze for a moment, which the four opponents saw to charge in. As they drew near, the Zinogre tensed its body up. Both of the monsters read this, but while Nargy was able to swing himself around and back off, Demi was in the middle of gliding, so while he was able to pull back he still found himself in the range of the attack. The bolts of dragon element rose out of the ground, taking the wind out of him and knocking him sprawling backwards. Joseph looked over briefly but didn't have time to be concerned, the Zinogre already returning to the fight. Nargy got himself ready, Joseph still on his back. The two wyverns tried to fight, to an apparent stalemate.

Meanwhile, the fight against the Silverwind was getting similar results. The hunter and her Seregios were trying to get the deviant to bleed, but due to the great difference in speed, this seemed impossible. Not only that, but there didn't appear to be another option of attack. The main problem with the Silverwind was its range through the blades of wind it could create using its tail. If they got too far away, that'd be flung at them, and due to their lack of range they'd have no means of countering, so they'd lose if nothing changed. This meant they couldn't keep their distance and wait for it to come to them, nor could they fall behind it as it moved. Its speed meant that it'd be near impossible to hit even at close range, so their only option was to reduce that speed, though this still held the same problem.

The Silverwind took them off guard by using a blade of wind, which narrowly missed, slicing into the landscape behind them. At the same time, the Zinogre shot off a volley of dragon element projectiles, causing Nargy to temporarily retreat.

* * *

The two pairs tried to recover, when suddenly Joseph thought of something. He looked over to the hunter and Seregios.

"Hey, ya wanna trade?" He yelled.

"What's that mean!?" She responded.

"Well, dunno for sure about yerself, but for me and Nargy this is getting to be a pain. So I figured that ya can deal with the Stygian and we'll handle that deviant. Besides, Nargy can keep up with it, so it'll be easier, yeah?"

She contemplated for a while, before finally looking defeated "Well, guess there's no choice…" she muttered, before the two of them switched targets.

Nargy charged at the Silverwind, who seemed to recognise these two as more of a threat than the others, likely due to being of the same species. The two started to run off, trying to see who would be tired out first, presumably.

Even if it had dragon, against a slower target they would be able to hunt better. The Seregios charged straight for the Zinogre, before pulling back before reaching it, dodging dragon element. The Zinogre was so focused on the monster that it didn't notice the hunter jump off its back. She was still falling through the air, and aimed a right hook straight for the Zinogre's face, knocking it back. She landed, then propelled herself upwards for an uppercut, stunning it. Finally, while in the air, she slammed down on the Zinogre, causing it to crash into the ground. The Seregios then flew in and cut the side of the Zinogre, getting scales lodged. Since it was downed, this gave it more time to land more than one hit, so the Seregios slashed as many times as it could, getting scales lodged on nearly each one.

The Zinogre snapped back into life and got up, roaring. It tried to move forwards, but couldn't, due to the scales causing it to bleed. The Zinogre was now immobile, something the hunter took note of. She ran around its body, landing hits on every part she could. After about a minute, there was a red aura emanating from just about every part of the Zinogre. It was still bleeding, but forced itself to move anyways out of desperation. It charged for the hunter, roaring.

She calmed herself down and pulled both her fists back. The Zinogre drew close, so she thrusted both her weapons forwards, connecting with its head.

The fanged wyvern was knocked back, but was still able to stand. It went to move forwards, but couldn't for some reason. Then, it felt the aura began to grow thicker, surrounding it, before it finally exploded.

* * *

DRAGON SPIRIT PIERCING ATTACK

* * *

The Zinogre was caught in the blast, covering the ground around it with its own blood, before finally it stopped. It stared at its final opponents for a few moments more, before finally dropping to the ground, dead on the spot.

The two who had just one recovered, and tried to help Terrence and Demi up. They had the intention of helping out with the remaining monster, but right now they just had to recover.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two Nargacuga had been racing alongside each other for a while. The Silverwind had the advantage of range, but that didn't have much of an effect here. Unfortunately, Nargy still had weaker physical strength, so if he was hit by one of its tail strikes it would be difficult to recover.

Finally, they reached a clearing, which looked like a good enough arena. The Silverwind took the lead and ran into it first, taking its own corner. It took advantage of the distance to use blades of wind. These were dodged, but they were still something to look out for, which only put more stress on Nargy and Joseph.

They closed in on it, before both of the swift wyverns clashed with a tail strike, Nargy being pushed back. To make up for this, he pounced at the Silverwind, catching it with his body and knocking it into the air. It caught itself in the air and hovered slightly, sending out more blades of wind.

Nargy realised his mistake, but it was too late. If he jumped now, he'd be knocked out of the air by it, so he needed to think of a different strategy. He looked back to Joseph, who grinned, and just then one was thought of.

Nargy ran forwards, just as predicted. He narrowly dodged a blade, then ran straight beneath it. There was confusion from the other two, until Nargy launched Joseph off, into the Silverwind.

Joseph wasn't sure of what was happening, but managed to stay clinging on, and stabbed at the Silverwind's tail. While this wasn't much, it wasn't able to shake him off, so it resorted to slamming its tail on the ground.

Just as it descended, Nargy span around and pounced again, catching it off guard and knocking Joseph off. Joseph crashed a short distance away, and the two flying wyverns began to fight.

This continued a short while, before finally it reached the result of heavy damage for both. But, Nargy was already tired out, while the Silverwind appeared to be able to still go.

Both pounced forwards, but then the Silverwind suddenly stopped and dropped to the ground. Nargy was now above it, so it flung a blade of wind at him.

Unable to dodge, Nargy's front leg was slashed, causing him to drop to the ground and spin across it. Joseph yelled out and was now getting closer, as he had been launched a great distance away, but still wasn't close enough.

The Silverwind repeatedly slashed at Nargy, hitting him with everything it had. Joseph finally made it close and slashed at its side, causing to react with pain and back off.

Joseph wasn't done and pursued it. It then sped up, trying to leave his line of sight entirely. A blade of wind was shot out, but Joseph aura picked up on it, allowing him to dodge around. As he did, the Silverwind closed in for a strike, but it missed and was countered.

This continued for a few more attacks, until finally the Silverwind's eyes went red. It then appeared to disappear to completely, the only thing Joseph could follow was a trail of red. Then, many blades of wind appeared almost at once, all coming at Joseph.

This was dodgeable just about, but Joseph realised something else about the attack. If it missed him, at least a few were bound to hit Nargy. In his weakened state, he wouldn't be able to dodge. It'd also likely finish him, even if it didn't the Silverwind probably could with a single strike at that point. He could take the strike himself, but then he'd be heavily weakened and probably missing a few limbs, even then he couldn't guarantee the strikes wouldn't go through him after he had been hit.

"So… it's like this again…" He thought "Someone else is gonna die… someone I coulda protected, but failed because I didn't finish the monster before this… it's the exact same, ain't it? The one I'm huntin' with takes the hits, I get off just fine, then I'm the one who lives. Even if I take 'em now, it'll be just for nothin'..."

* * *

He thought back to before, everything that had happened until this time. The pain it created, the regret. Even now, that he had risen out of that, he was going to be pulled back again. He wondered if he had ever escaped it to begin with. Everything about that pain raced through his mind, over and over, forming his own memories.

"No…"

The memories started to shift slightly, changing shape.

"I ain't gonna experience that again. I ain't going back to that, so I can't lose anything."

His aura flared to life, but this time it moved. It slithered along his arm, going up his weapon and surrounding it, now radiating.

"Even if I gotta cut through the wind itself, I'll cut down whatever tries to get in my way."

The memories formed a blade.

Joseph swung his blade. Normally, the wind should've cut through the metal and broken it. But instead, it was the wind that fell, being cleared.

The Silverwind and Nargy were both shocked, but Joseph didn't react. He sprinted forwards, straight for his opponent. Before it realised, he was there. He slashed, catching its side, cutting its right leg off completely. The Silverwind screamed with pain, but Joseph didn't even flinch, apparently not hearing it. It swung its tail around and connected with his side, but he barely reacted. He didn't dodge, nor did he fall. The Silverwind couldn't move its body apart from that, so Joseph pulled his sword back and slashed horizontally, finishing it for good and sending blood flying into the air.

The aura drifted off of Joseph's sword and entered the air, burning away before it finally disappeared completely.

There was a long silence, until the others landed, so Joseph turned around, seemingly being wiped of his previous facial expression.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" Joseph asked.

"Pretty good." The tonfa wielding hunter responded.

"I didn't do much though…" Terrence lamented.

"Well, whatever, it's probably fine or somethin'. Anyways I gotta get Nargy healed up, so Terrence, can ya just go carve for the both of us?"

So, Terrence headed back to the corpse, while the other two stayed there. A few minutes passed, before Joseph had finally bandaged Nargy's wounds. The only thing left to do now was wait. Nargy went to sleep, as that'd probably help with the recovery.

The hunter and her Seregios were still there, carving the Silverwind.

Joseph turned around, having nothing left to really do. He thought for a second before speaking.

"Ya know, still don't get what's going on with ya being a hunter and all."

"Well, it's not really that much. A few others and I managed to escape, so we all decided to start new lives as hunters. This also meant we changed our names, in case you're wondering. I guess I shouldn't have chosen something so similar, but it doesn't really matter much, I don't think the Guild would even check someone if they could have information on them, long as they're willing to be a hunter."

"Huh… don't really know how ta respond…"

"Aren't you going to ask about my work as an assassin?"

"Not really, but if ya wanna talk bout it that much then yeah sure, don't mind."

"Well, no, that's not what I mean… usually if someone learnt the Guild had assassins they'd ask about what they do…"

"Don't really give a shit."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, yeah sure, it's some secret shit or whatever, I get that. But, way I see it, don't got anything to do with me, so I got no reason to get involved with it. So I don't really wanna hear it. Besides, it's probably just something like killing people who know about stuff they're not meant to or somethin'..."

"Actually, it's-"

"Hold it, don't wanna hear it! Already said, don't wanna get killed!"

There was a silence.

"Well, changing the subject, exactly how did you get strong enough to go from running the moment you see a Deviljho to taking on a Stygian and a Silverwind in the same day? I know you've got new gear and a Nargacuga, but that shouldn't make much of a difference."

"Well, y'know, just been training a bunch, really made me good. By the way, don't go slanderin' Daimyo like that…"

"Sure, I guess. Still, I doubt it's just training, especially as there isn't a wound on you, and this thing's been almost cleaved in two."

Joseph seemed to think for a second.

"Well, was gonna try and play it off, but guess that ain't gonna work. Besides, ya probably recognise it anyway."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, got no official name for it, but I call it aura."

"Huh?"

"Well, it's like this thing that helps me out in fights. Like, I'll be about to get hit, then it'll like, show me how to dodge and counter, then I'll do it."

"...I've never heard of something like that…"

"It'll be easier if I just show it… So uh, try hittin' me."

"You're sure about this?"

"Yeah, no holdin' back and all, gotta show it off properly."

"Okay then…"

* * *

She stepped forwards, then drew her tonfas, before charging forwards to open with a right hook. Joseph's aura flared, he stepped out of the way of this and reached back to draw his weapon, but was cut off and had to jump back again to dodge a sweeping kick. His opponent closed the distance by propelling herself at him. He hopped out of the way of this and finally drew his weapon, but missed. She then stopped herself by digging into the ground and turned around to swing at him. However, this was dodged around just barely, and Joseph swung his sword upwards, stopping just barely before it made contact.

Because of the sudden stop, he lost his footing slightly and stumbled over, but he had still proven his point.

* * *

"Sorry, I never seen anything like that before…"

"Well, shame. Figured someone from the Guild'd know somethin', but guess that was wrong…"

"Why did you think that?"

"Well, it was almost three years ago now I guess, when we were on trial for a technically illegal hunt. It wasn't going well, but when I mentioned the aura, it was like everything changed for the better. I mean, then I was pretty happy to get out of it, but thinkin' back, it was kinda suspicious. I know there's at least one other person who can use it out there, so I wonder if the Guild's keeping eyes on us or somethin'..."

"...That is strange. Here I was thinking I could at least understand most of the Guild's actions, but I guess that's just more to it."

"Whaddya sayin'?"

"Well, I was born into a life that made me know a lot more about the world than most people will ever know, but there was still a lot I didn't know, and I was just kinda convinced to turn a blind eye to it. I was always taught that monsters were the cause of the world's problems, so I never understood those who sympathised with them, though I just assumed they were evil too, instead of questioning it too hard. Then for some reason, I ended up questioning that one day, so that must've been what made me want to get out. So, once I did, I found myself here, with nowhere to go."

Joseph couldn't really respond.

"I feel like there's a lot I know, but there's also a lot I don't at the same time. I don't really get people at all and just, when I think about it, this world makes no sense at all. In the first place, there's no history past a thousand years back, but there's clearly something beyond that, as there's nothing written about the ruins you see pop up from place to place in it. That's clearly not from Schrade, so there must've been something before… In the first place, what even is a monster? I mean, yeah sure, they're animals, but they seem above normal ones, don't they? And they're usually drawn to those types of places… Plus, how is it that some of us are able to get along with them? I mean, sure you all have your own circumstances, but here I am, being raised to hate them all, getting along with Vrai, when she's a species that naturally hates everything…"

Joseph still didn't say a thing.

"Well, I just want to understand more things, including what the Guild's trying to do now… that's my motives summarised, I suppose."

Joseph remained silent, before finally speaking "Well, I figure yer overthinkin' a bit, but ya lived yer own life, so I ain't in a position to say what's right and wrong for ya, since I can't really relate to half of it."

"Yeah, I figured as much…"

"Eh, still, ya wanna live based on your past, right? I don't get half of what yer saying, but even so, that's a pretty good way to live, yeah?"

"I didn't expect that out of you."

"Hey, I ain't dumb or somethin'. I dunno, since before a few years ago, I guess I was tryna do the same, but like, I wasn't really using it for anything. I was just being a hunter cause I didn't have another choice. But, about three years back, I realised there was no way I'd be able ta run anymore, so I decided to turn around and face it, and try to make it my motive. I ain't gonna claim to have everything covered, but that's what I'm tryna to do."

"Cool."

"Shaddup, if ya get to spout yer motive like that, then I'm allowed to do the same."

"Anyways, I suppose I'll be taking my leave now. It's starting to get dark…" With that, Vert turned, climbed onto Vrai's back and flew off.

Joseph watched them and once they were gone he just waited a while, before finally, Terrence landed.

"Damn," Joseph muttered "You took a longass time."

"Sorry, anyways I got it sorted, so can we head back now?" He responded.

"Yeah, just help me out with Nargy here."

So they headed back into Riveru, and a while passed without much happening due to recovery.

* * *

 **May 28th, 1349**

* * *

Joseph rolled out of bed and went outside to go check on Nargy, who was now standing. He seemed to be healed, which meant they could finally leave the city and head to wherever they were headed next.

Joseph told Terrence about it, and a few hours later they were at the gates of the town, ready to leave.

They were just about to, when they heard someone coming up behind them. Surprisingly yet also unsurprising, it was Vert.

"Hey, where are you guys going now?" She asked.

"Minegarde. Why, ya wanna come with us or somethin'?" Joseph asked jokingly.

"Yeah, sure, why not."

"It was a joke."

"Well yeah, I realised, but I might as well. I mean, it's not like I'm doing much by staying here. Besides, whatever your aura is, I figure following you'd be a good way to figure it out."

"Well, yeah sure, that works I guess." Joseph responded.

Vert then walked off to get ready, then Terrence expressed his confusion. "How does she know about the aura?"

"Well, couldn't really hide it, so uh yeah, just sorta happened."

"I thought aura was meant to be some secret thing…"

"Not really, I just don't bring it up that much cause it'd be a pain to hafta explain it all the time."

"Yet you explained it there…"

"Shaddup, it just happened, got it?"

They talked for a little while longer, before they saw a Seregios flying away.

"That'd probably be our cue…" Joseph muttered, climbing onto Nargy's back.

They took off, followed by Terrence on Demi's back.

The four of them quickly caught up the other two, and then headed west at a steady speed.

* * *

 **November 16th, 1349**

* * *

Joseph sat up in bed, and then asked one question to himself. "What day is it?"

He thought for a second, trying to work it out, until finally he reached the answer. It was November 16th, the day his ban was lifted and the day he said he would return to Dundorma and meet up with the others.

Yet here he was, in Kotoko Village, nearly half the world away. He started sprinting around, gathered the others, and yelled "We're heading to Dundorma right now!"

"But why?" Terrence asked.

"Cause we gotta be there today. C'mon, if we go now we'll make it by noon!"

"It's ten now…" Viridi muttered.

"I know what I said!" Joseph yelled, before running off.

They saw a Nargacuga quickly fly off in the distance.

"Well, guess we need to follow him…" Terrence lamented, before looking up slightly "Still, never been there, so it should be interesting I guess."

"It's not that great…" Viridi enthusiastically responded, before both of them set off to follow him.

From this experience, Joseph learnt that another thing he needed to improve was keeping track of time.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

It's finally finished, sorry it took so long. I guess I just needed to write a lot, since this is the penultimate chapter of the arc and the last chance I'll get to write a big fight for a while. I mean, Terrence was kinda screwed over it, but everyone else got to show cool stuff, so he'll just to have deal with it. Though he can hardly complain, I mean he got three chapters on the first stage of his character arc, so he'll just have to put up with it while every other arc gets to the point his is at.

That's about it, I watched Yugioh ARC V recently, and it was great followed by disappointment.  
I'm not interesting enough to fill this with my own life, but I've still got to pad that word count somehow...


	24. Dundorma, 1349

**November 16th, 1349**

* * *

The sun rose into the sky, signalling the start of a new day. The city of Dundorma started its day, the night dying off.

Two people and one felyne walked up to the gate, and looked to the one who was attending it.

"You hunters?" He asked.

"Yep." The taller one responded.

"Guild card?"

The three of them showed their cards.

 **Zach Gilmore**

 **Lyra Windgralde**

 **Shoot Windgralde**

He read over this, and checked through the records.

"Okay, you two can pass," he said, looking at Lyra and Shoot, before turning to Zach "But you're banned from setting foot in here."

"Damn, the hell'd you do, nya?" Shoot asked.

"Ain't important," Zach quickly dismissed the question "Anyways, look closer, ended when today began."

"Oh yeah, so it did. Well sure then, welcome to Dundorma, then."

The three of them stepped through the gates, entering the walled capital at last.

"So this it, huh?" Lyra muttered "Kinda underwhelming…"

"Whaddya mean?" Zach asked.

"Well, I expected it to be like… bigger." She answered.

"It's a city, biggest place ya ever been. Hell were ya expectin'?"

She was silent, but Shoot cut in.

"It isn't that good, nya, you're just some New World twit who's easily impressed."

"Ain't ya the ones who spent most of yer life in a melynx village?"

"Anyways, nya, what are we even here for?"

"Oh yeah, that. We gotta find everyone from my hunting group three years back, we're getting back together."

"Wait, so you're finally letting us go, nya?"

"...Wasn't stopping ya…?"

"You're blackmailing us, nya…"

"Oh yeah, that. I didn't really mean it, I just made it up on the spot cause it sounded kinda cool."

Both of them stared at him in silence. Zach quickly looked around for a way of changing the subject, before spotting Riko, walking around alone.

He quickly moved towards him, trying to ditch the previous conversation. Riko looked over to greet him.

"You doing good, man?" Riko asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. Just got here, what about yerself?"

"Got here last week."

"Huh?"

* * *

 **November 9th, 1349**

The sun rose into the sky, signalling the start of a new day. The city of Dundorma started its day, the night dying off.

A lone human walked up to the gate, and looked to the one who was attending it.

"You a hunter?" He asked.

"Yep." the hunter responded.

"Guild card?"

He showed his card.

 **Riko Ford**

He read over this, and checked through the records, before finally saying "You're banned from setting foot in here."

"Nope, ended today." Riko replied.

"No."

"...Yeah it does."

"It ends next week. You can enter then, but if you go in now, you'll get arrested."

Riko then tried to make a grab for the records but the man snatched them away, then showed them to him.

Riko thought for a second, before looking up, smugly grinning.

"You almost had me, but you forgot something important!"

"What's that?"

"I can't read that!"

"Get out."

* * *

"So then I just awkwardly hung around for a week, before I finally got here a few hours ago." Riko finished.

"...Huh." Zach responded, trying to find something else to talk about, before being cut off by Riko continuing the conversation.

"You go anywhere?"

"Well yeah, went down south around the jungle type areas, met the two I got standing somewhere around here now, even fought a deviant, before I finally made my way back up here. Wasn't bad, got some practice in that typea environment, and Zappy seemed to enjoy himself. What'd ya do?"

"I went as far as Harth, then I came back when the volcano stopped being active. I met some new people I guess, they left pretty quick though…"

Zach knew this was going badly, but he needed to make this go somewhere, since now he was worried.

"You notice anything different around here? Since ya left?"

"Well, the building where I used to sit on the roof and gaze up at the stars by myself at night is gone, so that's a shame. So I guess I can't do that anymore…"

"..."

"..."

"Riko…"

"...Yeah?"

"Are ya good?"

"..."

Riko then walked off, silently.

"He looks like he's gonna kill himself…" Lyra muttered.

"Don't just go and say that!" Zach yelled back.

* * *

They continued through the city for slightly, before seeing another trio walking through.

It was one dude, and two similar looking girls. By coincidence, the dude was Ben.

Zach and Ben walked up to each other and started prancing for some reason.

"Is this how you greet each other?" Natalie asked.

"No." They replied in unison, straight faced.

Then after about five minutes, they stopped, because Anthony showed up.

He didn't really know what was going on but they stopped either way.

"So I recognise you two, but who are the other four."

They were quickly introduced.

"So, ya see anyone else?" Ben asked.

"Well, I saw Alexandra I think, but she just slipped off."

"Neat. So ya do anything?"

"Fuck no."

"Same."

"By the way, where'd you guys leave your monsters at? I mean, I had to leave Wave outside for now, since we don't have anywhere to stay."

"Just outside the walls, guessing yer the same."

Zach nodded "Yeah, don't wanna cause much trouble round here right now. I mean, who the hell'd do that?"

On cue, Callum ran up to them, followed by Sanchez.

They were completely silent, which left Callum having no idea what was going on.

"How ya doin'?" He asked, but was just met with more silence, before finally Zach managed an "Alright, you?"

This was then cut off by a screech of a bird wyvern.

* * *

A Yian Garuga with a wounded eye reared its head, screeching with everything it had and disturbing the neighbours slightly.

The rider climbed off its back, clad in all black armour. Across his back, there was a short sword and a shield rested. He removed his helmet, revealing shortish black hair and glowing red eyes. There was a silence while everyone else tried to work out what was going on.

"This Joseph?" Ben asked.

"When did Joseph have glowing red eyes? Or a Garuga? Or an SnS? Or was tall?" Zach asked.

"Hey three years' a long time." Ben replied.

"Not long enough for ya to get anythin' done though…" he muttered back, before finally cutting this off by turning Callum "So who's this?"

"Oh, that's just Ed."

The man finally spoke in a deep voice, responding to his words "Fool, my name is not Ed. It is Edward, the forbidden warrior of unlimited power."

"Don't recognise ya." Zach and Ben responded in unison.

"Well of course, that makes sense-" Ed began, before being cut off.

"Did ya even get yer own chapter?"

"What does that me- I mean, of course, no I didn't! Someone of the shadows does not need something as pathetic as a chapter!"

"Yeah…" everyone realised he had no idea what was going on.

"So what's your monster?" Natasha asked, as she had to talk for once.

"Haha, you see, this is my pact partner. His name is written in a language unbeknownst to you mere mortals, but a version I suppose you should be able to comprehend would be 'Revelation-Beast XIII, the twenty-seventh seat of the wyverns of the first circle of the unchained ones'."

"I still don't get it." She responded, not having understood half that sentence.

"Well, I shouldn't have expected more. For the time being, you may refer to him as Revel." He smugly made a "hmmph" noise, as if signifying victory.

"Cool…" She responded, summarising the thoughts of everyone else present.

Everyone talked for a while longer while Ed stood there, still believing himself to be the coolest.

* * *

Meanwhile, about a hundred miles away, three wyverns capable of flight raced through the skies.

Terrence couldn't understand what Joseph, leading the group on the back of Nargy was repeatedly murmuring, but he figured it was "Not gonna be late."

* * *

The group then looked over to see three wyverns descending out of the air.

The three riders got off and removed their helmets.

"Ah!" Anthony went "Sean, Alicia, ...!" Anthony struggled for a few moments, until Matt finally said "Ya don't know me."

"Oh good I felt like a piece of shit."

They were about to have their moment of explaining what they did, until armed guards ran up to them.

They drew their weapons.

"Wait, what?" Matt questioned.

"Knew this'd happen…" Sean muttered.

"Since we came over the wall on our wyverns," Alicia explained "We're now here illegally technically. Also our wyverns are dangerous and now they need to hunt them."

"Wait, if flying over the wall'd get us in trouble why'd ya both say we should do it!? Ya know Klaus'd find it easier to stick to the ground!"

There was a lot of contemplation going on, until Sean finally said "I figured it'd be a pain."

"Okay shouldn't expect more from ya but what about Alicia?"

She gave off a sadistic smirk.

"Why the hell'd ya suddenly go and turn into a sadist!?" He yelled, before they all started running from the guards.

They then disappeared, the guards chasing after them.

* * *

Finally, when that was half settled, a hunter walked towards them.

It was Alexandra she was back from what she was doing, Zino was following her.

"So'd ya do anything?" Callum asked.

"I got stronger." She responded.

"...That it?"

"You don't understand my path."

"Do y'just wanna go stand with Ed over there."

"Edward!" The man in all black yelled.

"How'd ya even meet this guy?" Zach asked.

"He just sorta showed up." Callum responded, before they saw someone moving towards them. He had a large weapon over his back, and appeared to be glad to finally see everyone else.

* * *

It was Riko.

"There weren't any good roofs." He hastily explained, though he was glad inside to finally have most of them back in one place so he wasn't lonely.

* * *

Meanwhile, Joseph saw the wall of Dundorma on the horizon. "Huh, wonder if I can fly over…" he thought "Well, only one way to find out…!"

He directed Nargy to land on the ground nearby and ran up the gate "By being responsible and asking!" he finished thinking.

"Hey can I fly over this wall?" He asked.

"No you gotta enter through the gate." The man working there responded.

"Cool and good. I get this now." Joseph confirmed.

There was a pause, before finally Joseph said "Yeah we're gonna enter now."

"IDs."

"Oh shit, those…" Joseph mumbled, fumbling around in his pockets.

 **Joseph Gilmore**

 **Terrence Gandor**

 **Vert**

The other three present read over this. Before finally Terrence spoke "Vert… why don't you have a surname?"

"...What's that?" She responded, severely confused.

"...How do ya not know what that is?" Joseph asked.

"It's like, a second name right. I mean you guys have them, but when I was filling out my card I figured out it wasn't needed, since I already put my first name…"

"YA CAN'T JUST NOT PUT A SURNAME ON IT, YA GOTTA MAKE SOMETHIN' UP AT LEAST!" Joseph yelled.

"How do you know about making it up?" The man asked quietly.

"OH SHADDUP, EVERYONE DOES IT!"

"I didn't…" Terrence muttered.

"NOT HELPIN'!" Joseph snapped at him, before turning to Vert "Anyways, how the hell'd ya even get around before without one?"

"Well, usually I just did this…"

She lunged at the worker and grabbed him, before slamming into the ground headfirst. He gasped as he collapsed and finally slipped out of consciousness.

Both Joseph and Terrence stood there, in shock.

"See, like that." Vert finished.

"WHY IS THAT YER ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM!" Joseph yelled.

"Well, now he won't be a problem. We need to go quickly, right?" Vert asked.

"We need to go quickly, yeah, but I'm worried about that guy's health, now!" Terrence joined now "Isn't he dead!? He's totally dead!"

"No, he's not. That couldn't kill anyone…"

"It'd definitely kill someone, did you even see what you did!? You threw him onto the stone, not the grass!"

"Ah…"

"AH!?"

"He should be okay…"

"That's not good enough… even if he does make it won't he report us?"

"Don't worry. He… won't be able to."

"The hell's that mean!?" Joseph now yelled.

"Look, it'll be fine. Here, I'll give him some money."

She threw some coins on him.

"Shit, I threw too much…" She muttered.

Vert went to pick it up, but Terrence heard other people coming, so he grabbed both of the others and started running.

After a few minutes, they figured they lost them, and they tried to find the others.

* * *

Finally, Joseph saw a large crowd of people ahead of him, recognising about half of them.

Even so, he saw the others there, and finally, after three years moved towards them.

There was a long silence while the four from Loc Lac stared each other down, until finally Ben said "Why have none of us changed?"

"Well, I mean, I changed, ya know? Got better at aura and stuff, it's really cool." Joseph corrected.

"Yeah… ya still don't look much different, 'sides yer armour." Zach complained.

"Shaddup, ya didn't do much better yerselves! Ya just got some people ta join ya, I did that and more!"

"I got a grappling hook." Callum said.

"...Huh?" They all said in unison.

"Yep." He confirmed, holding it up.

"Seriously!? That's cool as hell! Use it!"

So Callum did, zipping around the buildings, until he got yelled at to stop.

* * *

The group then broke off, got their huts ready, left their stuff behind then finally left the walls again, to go check on their monsters.

Most of them were treated normally. Vrai was met with some suspicion, but everyone seemed to accept her well enough.

Since they'd never seen Azure or Pink Raths before, Natasha and Natalie were both bewildered by Azure and Ayano.

The main thing that drew focus was Nargy.

Out of the group: Riko felt betrayed that he was once again the only one without a monster; though now he was even more on his own, Anthony was impressed he even managed to get one this strong, Alexandra was simply impressed but still felt superior with Zino, Sean and Alicia didn't really care and the other three from Loc Lac weren't sure how to react.

So, finally, the group headed back into the city.

* * *

As they headed back, Joseph turned back to the other two of his travelling group. "Ya know, from this point onwards ya don't gotta follow me anymore if ya don't want." He looked at Nargy "Same for ya too, ya don't got any reason to if ya don't wanna be stuck here for a while."

"Yeah, guess I could say the same to ya…" Zach said to Lyra and Shoot. Ben nodded, figuring he didn't have to say the same thing to Natalie and Natasha, as did Callum to Ed.

The first to respond was Natasha "We don't have a reason to leave, I still don't get this place, do you?" She asked Natalie. "No…" she muttered. "Yeah, so we're staying."

"As if a master of the dark like me would be scared off by something as simple as the city of Dundorma. This is nothing compared to the fires of Gershenvolt!" Ed yelled, so that was probably a yes.

"Even if you've said that you made it up, nya, we can't rule out you blackmailing us, so I don't think we have a choice." Shoot answered. "Plus… we don't really have anywhere else…" Lyra quietly added. "Don't tell them that…" Shoot muttered in response.

Finally, that left three more.

"Well, mine should be obvious enough," Vert began "I still don't understand the aura, so I'm still going to follow you, even if we're staying here."

Terrence seemed to think about it a little while longer "Well, my aim was to travel the world, though I guess if I stay here there's no chance of that… still, this counts as a place, right? Plus, I've never been somewhere so big before, so it should be something. I'll stick around, at least for now."

Nargy looked up at Joseph, as if thinking back to everything that had happened over the past two years. Should he have the desire, he could easily resume normal life in the wild, he was still young. But still, perhaps it was a thing of survival, or perhaps he even enjoyed it. He did not know what it was, yet there was still something there, compelling him to stay.

Nargy stepped forwards, and then Joseph's face twisted into a smirk as he muttered "Knew ya needed me…"

Nargy then turned his back on Joseph and walked off.

"Ah, alright I get it. I need ya, not the other way around. Just come back, dammit!"

So, Nargy finally turned around, this time the one who was looking down on Joseph.

They finally headed back into the city of Dundorma, which was awaiting them.

* * *

The first thing they did was start drinking, after having entered a pub.

So there they were. Alexandra, who had recognised Terrence's surname, was talking with him about Aron. Even though Terrence felt kind of awkward, he still had to be polite. Natasha was struggling desperately to keep up with a conversation between Ben, Callum and Matt. Meanwhile, Natalie was trying to understand how felynes talk by listening to the conversation Shoot was having with Alicia, Anthony and Riko. Finally, Sean, Ed, Lyra and Vert all sat quietly in their corner for people who are bad at being social.

This left just Joseph and Zach.

"Ya know," Zach began "Even though it been three years it's difficult for me ta accept that Daimyo's dead."

"Cool…" Joseph responded, dragging the last syllable out to show he didn't really want to discuss this.

"Don't cut me off, ain't done yet. Yeah, what I was tryna say is that it's difficult to accept. I guess it must be even more for yerself, since ya knew him so long. So, that ya been able to move past that… I get that it could be seen as bad, but that's what life is, ain't it? Ya don't let the bad stuff get ya down all the time…"

"Nah, that ain't right. I think about how I let him die everyday, it really keeps me goin'."

"Huh? I get that he meant a lot to ya, and I know that losin' important people hurts, ya should know that already, but that seems bit fair, don't it?"

"I'm not doing it so I can be sad, I'm doing to give myself strength to keep continuin'. When I think about how I failed there and every other time, it's what keeps me up. So I don't have to go through that again. That's what I mean by it."

Zach thought for a little while, before finally muttering "Well, guess that's one way…" and finally downing his drink. He looked to Joseph "Ya know, even though ya don't look much different, ya really are. Can't say if it's better or worse, but it's good that ya have."

Joseph grinned somewhat and downed his.

* * *

What happened next he couldn't remember, but he definitely woke up in his hut feeling like death on the 17th of November.

He walked outside, leaning on Nargy for support before finally finding the others.

They looked about how he did.

"So uh…" Ben began "How ya doin' on funds?"

Joseph checked his wallet. There was 47 zeni.

"..."

"Yeah, everyone else's same for some reason."

There was a long silence.

"So uh… how are we gonna do a hunting group like this?" Zach asked.

"Well," Ben began "I really enjoyed travelin' by myself, so I figure I might as well head on my own way, right?

"Yeah, same…!" Natasha added "Natalie and I might as well head off now, thanks for all the fun." Natalie quietly nodded.

"Nya know," Shoot smiled "I'm sure ya got no blackmail on us, so isn't it fine if we just leave, nya?"

"While I do enjoy being here…" Alexandra began "I feel I work best on my own, so I'm going off with Zino."

"Yeah same…" Anthony added "Wave and me are best suited to areas with more water, so we're good there."

"We're a trio," Alicia explained "We don't have any reason to stay." Sean and Matt nodded.

"One of darkness should not be bound to a district of such bright colours, it is unjust." Ed smirked.

"I've decided!" Terrence yelled "I wanna travel the world!"

"Someone like me has no right to be part of a group…" Viridi sadly muttered.

"Honestly I'm fine being poor." Riko explained.

Zach was somewhat amazed, especially when he saw the three remaining just trying to sneak away.

"Oh no, you ain't doin' that. All of ya." Zach coldly stated.

"Ya already said yer joinin'. If ya leave now, I'll spread it. No-one's gonna take hunters who leave at the first sign of trouble.

They all silently looked towards him, and sighed at once.

"How we gonna get around this, anyways?" Joseph asked.

"Uh…"

There was a disappointed silence.

"We'll start takin' requests outsidea hunts."

"Huh?" the group asked.

"Yeah, like requests from people. It's more work, we'll be good."

The group didn't really agree, but they were forced to accept it, so the group began.

* * *

Meanwhile, the machinations of fate began to advance again.

Fallon stood alone in her room.

"So, that aura user must be back by now. I wonder how he's doing, but that's not my concern for now…"

She thought a while longer.

"My main concerns are… there… and them…"

* * *

 **There**

The king sat atop his throne, in a country far separated from all else.

The people bowed under his reign, having been overthrown by the overwhelming might of the monsters they had once ruthlessly slaughtered.

An inferior race, they would soon pay for their crimes. But still, that could not happen now, much work was needed. So he awaited news on his throne, news of overturn in the world.

* * *

 **Them**

The hunter looked at the shadowed figures surrounding him. On the floor next to him, there were multiple others, pools of blood forming around their heads.

The one who looked to be in charge turned to him.

A male voice spoke, reading

"Robert Millar, a hunter who originated from Jumbo, yes?"

"Y-yeah…" he meekly responded.

"Such a shame… your name isn't shown anywhere in the records for it. However, there is a Robert fitting your description, I must say it is interesting. A famous druglord, believe it or not. After most of his gang was arrested, he fled and was never seen again. That is, under his old name…"

"Look man, what's it matter to you? I know that… what I did was wrong but, that's why I became a hunter! I don't want to be associated with that life anymore, I'm different now!"

The man looked down for a moment, before uttering "Truly pathetic…"

Robert tried to escape, but was stopped by the others surrounding him.

"No matter how much you struggle, in the end, you cannot escape the sin you created for yourself. A hunter like you, one that joined just to escape your problems… you truly are trash."

The cloaked figure drew his weapon, an axe.

Robert drew his own weapon, a sword and shield.

He took the first move, lunging with everything he had. Just as he drew near, the opponent disappeared. The last words he heard were "Repent eternally."

The cloaked leader looked down upon the dead trash, as the others began to leave without a word. He had been successful this time, but he knew there was much more to go. These thoughts stuck with him as he departed into the cold night, his mission burning brightly.

 **END OF PART III**

 **TO BE CONTINUED IN PART IV**

* * *

So yeah, here we are at the end of the part. I did not improve, like, at all. But I mean, hey, I made it. It wasn't that bad of a part, probably had more plot development than the last did or something cool like that, but it's over now, so whatever.

Also, with this chapter going up, it's been a year and a day since I started this series. It felt rather slow, but looking back it felt really fast, so I don't know how to feel about that. But yeah, I feel like I've definitely learnt something from all the mismanaged time I spent on this, so that's probably meaningful or something. Thanks for reading up until now, I can't really express how weird it is to me that anyone can put up with my shit. I hope that you continue to not see sense and drop this as I continue.

Except not because hiatus.

Yep, that's right, I'm off to go spend all year playing Idolmaster and making shoujo manga. Well, in reality I guess it's because of school, since I'm in my last year it's kinda difficult to keep up with this, since on most days I have nearly no time to write. Which provides kind of a problem. So, in the interests of that over this I'm putting this series on a boat. Sorry, I guess, at least I would say that but I added that last scene just because I was going on hiatus, because I hate you all.

I don't know when I'll be back, I'm planning on rewriting the first part at some point to make this story more easily accessible before I move into part IV, so uh we'll see then or something.

If I don't come back just pretend the city was attacked by a Fatalis after the chapter ended and they all died in the ensuing battle.


	25. Post-Timeskip Timeskip

The world woke up for the first time in over a year.

Joseph walked out of his hut, seeing Zach.

"It just me… or does it feel like a lot of time has passed between yesterday and today."

"Yeah same." Zach replied.

Eventually, the entire gang appeared, all feeling the same thing.

"So… anyone got any idea what happened?" Anthony asked, met with silence.

"Well, only one way to find out." Ben replied, before snapping Joseph's neck. His corpse fell to the ground, as most of the group were stunned into silence.

* * *

Suddenly his corpse raised back up, now floating with a glowing aura around it.

"The main character cannot die before the end of the story, this error must be fixed" it announced.

"Aight but before ya go can ya explain what's goin' on." Zach asked, he then looked over to the others "Since Joseph the self-insert, the author doesn't let him die ever, so we can just kill him to summon him whenever we need to ask shit. Only problem is we completely forget we can use this whenever there's important things going on."

Joseph woke up in the middle of this and said "The mc can't sit out of any scene that he's in.", leaving the floating state by crashing into the ground. "Just send notes down whenever you're replyin'." He instructed the sky.

The first note fell down  
" **A year has passed, because I didn't write anything for a year** "

"Why?"

" **Because this series is meant to move in real time** "

"But if we were doing that the story's still behind where it should be, since it was only a few months between part 1 and 2, not a full year." Alexandra questioned.

There was no reply for a few minutes, finally followed by a note drifting down gracefully.

" **Fuck.** "

Joseph then attempted to cover for the God that always backed him up "Well still, if we just have another timeskip, it's good right? Just gotta change something or other. You'll think of something, right?"

" **Eyepatches are cool.** "

"Yeah so someone just needs to lose an eye or two…" Joseph paused for a second "Riko!"

"Why?" Riko asked, before his right eye ceased to exist and an eyepatch appeared over it. "Oh… that was easier than I thought."

"Wait a minute!" Anthony yelled at the author "How come only he gets an eyepatch, eyepatches are a unique thing right, so I should get one too, to stand out!"  
Anthony's eye then also exploded.

This sparked a chain reaction of everyone asking for eyepatches and other cool features to get over a timeskip, until everyone was pretty much unrecognisable.

* * *

"Actually…" Joseph thought aloud, while performing sick flips on his hoverboard in his ascended aura level 4574 form "This might be a bit much."

"What are you on about? This is great." Sean pointed out, still producing infinite money out of nothing like he had been for the past ten hours.

Ben then appeared out of nowhere "Well, killing something in frozen time… just ain't the same."

The God of Sponge then looked to the sky "Aight, we'll just roll without the second timeskip."

All of the changes were then undone. Ed and Revel were left in the middle of a random town, which had now rebuilt itself instantaneously when he was right in the middle of destroying it with his super cool demon army, while the five hundred white fatalis Alexandra and Zino just took out disappeared. The now super rad Callum's sunglasses disappeared, leaving him without any sense of identity. Instantly, all the comrades he'd gathered ceased to exist and he went back to existing in the shadows.

"So now we're here I guess" normal Joseph said.

"What did the author even do over the year?" Natasha asked.

"Read vns." Joseph explained.

"What did he learn?"

A final note fell down, very slowly.

" **Archer from Fate big sexy** "

Everyone tried to process this and continued until Joseph started yelling.

"Happy 2nd / 4th anniversary / Halloween / Christmas / New Year / Hanukkah / whatever else we missed."

No one knew how to react to this either.

"Now for a bunch of short chapters so the readers don't get mad that we missed over a year of updates for no reason."

* * *

Riko sat in a corner, glaring at his surroundings.

Around him, the group was active, mostly interacting with their monster companions.

While Riko sat in the corner, completely alone.

"Why the hell am I the only one?" He thought.

"Everyone else has monsters to be with them but me…" He continued "I get that it's not normal if you think about how most people are… but I feel like I'm abnormal here cause of that. Besides, ain't being so far behind everyone else in terms of strength a serious death flag? When something strong shows up I'm gonna get one-shot for sure."

Anthony walked up to him "You aight?"

"Yeah, probably. Just sitting in a corner being jealous of others. The usual."

"You've never done this before."

"Yeah, so?"

"Ok but why are you doing this?"

"Everyone who isn't me having monster partners."

"Well now that you mention it, it is pretty weird that you're the only one. Still, it's really not much to be jealous of."  
"You got somebody to talk to and better combat power. I really don't see a downside here."

"Well yeah sure, but to be honest it gets pretty tiring after a while. I mean, Wave, I feel like he's gotten way too used to living like this. He doesn't want raw meat like you'd think a Lagiacrus should, it's always rare steaks, or else he won't eat it. He won't even accept well done ones! It's seriously inconvenient, do you know how many more Aptonoth I had to kill, it takes ages, rare steaks are impossible to make after you get into the habit of well-done anyways and he's behind me isn't he?" Anthony asked, before Wave picked him up using his jaws and quickly slid off.

"I don't even have anyone to have problems like that with though…"

Riko thought about it more "Well first, I should probably work out a reason to live. Oh yeah, what if I just asked everyone else."

* * *

After doing this, he received several answers, including:

"Money."

"Adventure."

"Money, I guess."

"To become the strongest."

"Get a lot of money."

"To conquer hell and become the great demon king, then rule over this world for eternity."

"Uhhh… it's money, sorry."

* * *

"A lot of these… are about money." Riko thought aloud. "Well, it's not like that isn't part of my motive." He thought further about what he should do.

It's not like this was new. He'd spent years without a motive to do anything. It's not as though lacking one would cause his death. Yet still, people with a motive have something to work towards, which appears to be something good, from how it's generally perceived. Not that he could relate.

In the end, deciding that for now having nothing was good enough, as he had before, he went back to sitting in a corner feeling envious.

* * *

"Twin characters, a force that had existed since the dawn of time itself. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to say that twin characters existed before time. The very idea fascinates humans and anything in the universe, surpassing all will. The idea that two completely opposite concepts could start at the same point, defies all reason. On the other hand, the idea that two completely identical concepts could exist as separate beings is also defying reason. Truly, twins are a spectacle of life!"

Zach yelled this out in the middle of a room, to a crowd he had gathered.

"What are you on? Was this even a part of your character before?" Questioned Vert, having come thinking she'd learn something.

"Well, it's not like any of us know him, so maybe?" Terrence suggested, having just been roped into it somehow.

Ed sat in the corner in silence, being edgy.

"Besides, something like that doesn't even work unless you're voiced by Kam*ya Hir*shi or Miy*no Mam*ru." Vert pointed out.

"Wait, what's with the censorship? It's not like copyright matters here." Zach asked.

"According to the rules we're not allowed to include real people, but who knows whether we can mention them. Getting banned might give us a chance to market ourselves as so good we got banned, but it seems to be more trouble than it's worth. So we're playing it safe for once."

"Well, I'm too tired to care. Anyways, back to twin characters. While they are great, part of the reason why they're that is cause they also don't exist. At all. Ever. It's impossible, ya know?"

"So then wh-" Terrence began, before being interrupted by Zach continuing with "But in spite of that, there's one right here!" He then pointed into space.

"Oh you mean the Nata duo." Terrence observed.

"So I've gathered all of ya here today to try and work out whether they're actually opposites or, more likely, it's an act."

"So how are we gonna do that?" Vert asked.

"Well of course, we just gotta separate them. Twin characters don't work as well when they're not near each other."

They then ran to the gathering hall. Vert and Ed grabbed Natalie and took her on a Kut-Ku quest, while Zach and Terrence convinced Natasha to go on a Great Maccao hunt.

As they waited to arrive at the hunting ground, Vert noticed that Ed was still being edgy, so she asked "Why are you even doing this anyway?".

Ed was silent before finally saying "If someone in this group drew more attention to me I would die."

Vert was then silent, sort of worried that that was one of his only lines.

* * *

They arrived on the hunting grounds and after some searching found their target.

Ed then yelled out "Foul beast! Fear the power of the devil! Five thousand and nine years of suffering, damnation and pain formation!" He and Revel then charged forwards.

"Yian Garuga are naturally better than Kut-Ku…" Vert fight "In which case this will end quickly, before we can observe anything. We'll just copy whatever Zach reports back with, I guess."

Ed and Revel then reached the Kut-Ku and began to very weakly flail at it, doing nothing.

"They're… acting… right…?" Vert thought.

"We should assist. They're doing their best." Natalie observed.

"Sure…" Vert replied, before her and Vrai jumped forwards.

Vert gave this no thought, but Ed calmly observed the conversation as he failed to kill a Kut-Ku. "I see, the caring side could be an extension of the introversion. She hasn't broken character yet."

Vert then jumped in to punch the bird in the face, while Vrai slashed at it from the side.

Frega began to sing, giving the others an attack boost.

Natalie hit the Kut-Ku from the side, before also giving an attack boost.

The Kut-Ku attempted to strike back by pecking at the ground, Vert quickly side stepped this but Ed and Revel were knocked backwards. Vert then took the opening to jump into the air and land a punch from above. Vrai then slammed her tail into the bird, causing scales to get stuck in it. The Kut-Ku was now bleeding, but recognising that if it stayed there to wait it would get more damage it attempted to fly to safety.

This was a mistake, as Vert jumped into the air and landed a punch straight to its head which knocked it back into the ground and left it stunned. Everyone then rushed the Kut-Ku, this was checkmate.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other group had arrived at the Ancestral Steppe a while ago and were now facing down the Great Maccao.

Natasha instantly charged forward, but then the dog-bird raised itself off the ground on its tail, before pouncing forwards with a kick, knocking her back.

Other Maccao surrounded them, which the other four were preoccupied with fighting off.

However, there was still a Brachydios left unaccounted for, so Aki lept through the air towards the Great Maccao.

Her head was buried into the ground, causing a series of explosions in a line, which caught the Great Maccao off guard and sent it flying through the air. Natasha then took advantage of this chance and sprung forwards, slashing at it before it could reach the ground.

Noticing that the fight wasn't going in the larger ones favour, most of the Maccao scampered off, leaving the others to face it.

Zappy charged towards the Maccao, with Zach atop his back. He was about to crash into, when the Maccao barely managed to dodge and got ready to strike at his side, only for Zach to fire at it, causing it to be knocked backwards again.

The Maccao then spun around to notice a figure around it and jumped out of the way of Demi slashing at it with his claws. Terrence leapt from his back and fired off arrows at the Maccao, which it was unable to avoid. Being stopped by this, it was then completely open for more of Demi's slashes.

Finally the Maccao looked around desperately for one last opening and noticed Natasha staring it down. It got ready for another pounce and started kicking through the air towards her at a high speed. Rather than dodge or block, Natasha instead readied herself. The Maccao drew close, as the charge blade switched into axe mode and was brought down with an overhead swing, knocking the oncoming bird wyvern into the ground and finishing it off.

* * *

They then regrouped back at Dundorma, where both realised they hadn't noticed any difference from normal.

"Now that it's come to this, we only got one choice…" Zach began.

"Accept it?" Terrence asked.

"No, you fool! Interrogation!" Zach yelled in response.

Zach then paused, before walking up to the two of them and asking "Hey are ya pretending to be opposites?"

Natalie then got incredibly nervous and started blurting out something that couldn't be heard to how rushed it was, while Natasha simply replied "Yes sort of."

Zach then ignored Natalie and questioned further, while posing dramatically "How so?"

"When we got here Natalie said that we should stand out and be easy to tell apart for others… so she got a haircut. That's it."

Zach was then silent before once again posing dramatically and yelling "Yer lies… I have seen through all of them, no deceit can escape my view, the truth is exposed."

This was to cover up that it was basically nothing and he was wrong earlier.

* * *

Matt and Sean stared each other down, somewhere outside of town.

"Today is the day where I'll prove that I'm the superior bowgun user!" Matt yelled.

"This was a weird turn of events." Callum thought, watching this occur.

Earlier that day, Matt, normally known for being the responsible one, had sorta been drinking too much for whatever reason. This led to realising he was intensely jealous of Sean for existing, so he decided that he would challenge him to a duel to see who the superior bowgun user is.

Callum was chosen as a judge for their duel, because he had a pretty sick grappling hook.

Matt raised his gun, while Sean didn't move.

He loaded in a tranquiliser and remained tense, ready to fire the moment Sean moved. He stared at him more, attempting to detect the slightest twitch, the slightest amount of killing intent, any sign he was about to fight.

Nothing happened.

"Yer not taking this seriously, are you?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, ya got me. I don't care that much." Sean explained.

"Then, lemme raise the stakes!" He posed dramatically "Whoever loses this duel will have to leave the group!"

"Got it."

Matt then fired anyways, shooting his gun twice. "This is my trap." He thought "After hearing the gun fire, the natural reaction would be to roll out of the way then fire back. Of course, this is exactly what I am betting on. If he rolls to the left or right, one of these bullets will connect. I respect my opponent, so my plan is based on my expectation of him dodging!"

However both bullets hit the ground, as Sean stood in place.

"Did he see through it!?" Matt thought, before realising it was just that Sean couldn't be bothered to move.

"Ok!" He yelled "I see you're still not taking this seriously, so…"

Sean suddenly sensed a change, that perhaps he should start to focus.

"The loser will have to pay the winner 500z!"

As he finished that sentence, he suddenly felt himself get hit by a tranquiliser and passed out. In the space of a second, Sean had ended the duel.

Callum took a second to process what had just happened, but managed to mumble out "Yeah Sean wins" before Sean reached into Matt's pockets, took all of his money and walked off without anyone really being able to stop him.

After waking up, Matt felt pretty awkward and just tried to ignore the conditions he'd set, with life returning to normal.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

So there's the first chapter in over a yearish. It was a pretty fun and unproductive hiatus. I have nothing to say here, I said it all in the rewrite. Vns are fun but they kill writing.

As for the schedule, it should be back to biweekly at this point. I'm sorta busy with college, but also I'm now planning to spend a lot less of my free time on things that aren't this. It's possible I'll be late to deadlines, but I'm just going to be aiming for on every other friday.

See you next chapter and hopefully not in a year.


	26. Chasing the Sky

Joseph Gilmore:

Height: 166 cm

Weapon: Long Sword

Monster: Nargy (Nargacuga)

Age: 24

Place of origin: Tanith Village

Hair colour: Dark Blonde

Eye colour: Blue

Trivia: Is convinced that he's learned the order of the alphabet, but no one's told him that he's got the second half backwards out of pity.

* * *

"Attention all new members!" Alexandra yelled out "I've noticed that almost all of you are new to hunting! So, if you want to improve your skills, then I shall help you to train!"

Lyra and Shoot declined immediately, as they couldn't be bothered. Ed suddenly disappeared from view. Natalia and Natasha also couldn't be bothered.

This left Terrence, who turned towards Joseph.

"Sure, if ya want." Joseph explained "She's kinda crazy, but effective, so if you think that I'm not good enough go right head."

"Ok, thanks." Terrence quickly replied before running off.

Joseph stared in stunned silence.

"Weren't ya fine with it?" Zach asked.

"I said that but like… I wanted him to refuse and say I was better." Joseph bitterly mumbled.

"Well, it's kinda funny this way anyways. It's the most experienced and the least experienced."

"Haha yeah" Riko added "Wait what?"

"Well she is the most experienced."

"But I'm the oldest."

"So?"

Riko responded with silence before turning to Anthony

"Is it just me… or does it feel like we're being overlooked?"

"Yeah sorta, it feels like everyone introduced when we were has started to overshadow us, while all the screentime's going to the new characters cause they're so new."

"Then, there's only one thing to do." Both of them then got up and set out on a training journey, which was so amazing that it cannot be described, so it won't be.

* * *

"So you were the only one that interested in training, then?" Alexandra asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Terrence replied.

"Oh well, it's good to see there's at least someone else here interested in improving. It starts tomorrow." She then turned to walk off.

* * *

 **4 AM, the next day**

* * *

Terrence woke up to the sound of something at his door, only to look around and see that his door was being cut down.

He quickly ran over and grabbed his bow, but when he opened the door he just saw Alexandra standing there.

Before he could say anything, she interrupted "What are you doing? It's already this late. You need to start training."

This confused him greatly, but she then took off running at full speed. Still without an explanation, Terrence decided to follow without any time to fix his door.

He was unable to catch up with her and after having run for an hour at the same speed he felt he was about to die. Finally Alexandra stopped, but before he could ask what was going on she turned around and ordered him "Now do 10000 pushups, situps and squats, then use your weapon for practice 1000 times."

Since bows took a lot longer to use than lances, he was only able to get part of the way there by the time Alexandra was done, not that he could even count that high.

By the time she was done Alexandra then turned and explained "Ok, now it's time to begin quests."

"Why?" Is all Terrence could manage.

"Well you won't get any hunting experience if you just spend all day training." With that she then took off again, leaving him behind.

Terrence eventually found his way back and collapsed onto a very confused and lonely Demi.

* * *

The next day, this repeated, with Terrence still coming close to death and being unable to hunt.

The exact same routine continued to repeat, Terrence still unable to move afterwards.

After possibly about a week, Terrence finally managed to question her properly. "Why do you do this?"

"To be strong."

"But why? It just feels… pointless. Aren't you good enough now?"

Alexandra then looked away "If you just stay like you are all the time… there's no guarantee that life's going to be the same in return."

She then walked off, leaving Terrence incredibly confused alongside his almost dead.

* * *

After getting back from another hunt, she found herself now complaining about her problems.

"It's been a while since you've been here, you know" Zenya began "The readers are gonna have to go all the way back through to remember who I am, even then I only showed up once in chapter two."

"Don't break the fourth wall please, I'm trying to be serious here. Sorry for that by the way, I was kinda exiled for a while. Besides, you don't need to worry about me slacking, I was training the entire time."

"Well, anyways, this kid that's annoyed you… I think your problem is that you just thought he'd be like you, right? Trying to improve constantly isn't a thing hunters tend to do too much, you do remember that right? So, you probably thought there was someone you could relate to, then you pushed him so hard and got surprised when he broke so easily."

"Well, I didn't push him that hard."  
"How long has he been a hunter for?"

"Not long…"

"See, he wouldn't stand a chance doing what you do now."

"Well, I guess so. Still, he has to be prepared in case life throws something unexpected at him."

"That's… difficult to understand without going through."

"Well, I guess I should go talk to him, then."

"See you, then. Don't take three years to come back this time."

"Got it, don't worry."

As she walked off, Alexandra then thought back to where this began.

* * *

Near the end of 1340, a much younger looking hunter looked around a gathering hall, before finally settling on a group of three she saw talking before her. They noticed her staring at them after a few minutes and looked over.

"Um…" She began, instantly regretting her decision "If you wouldn't mind… may I join you on a quest?"

An energetic looking girl, appearing to be the leader quickly replied with "Sure, got anything you wanna do?"

"A… Tetsucabra, unless there's something else…" The solitary girl muttered.

"Sounds good!" The welcoming girl interrupted "I'm Jude, nice to meet you." She then signalled to the others behind her.

"The name's Leo." An man with tied back long hair called out.

"Stop introducing yourself like that." A more muscular man complained, before turning to her "Cyrus."

"My name is Alexandra." The girl then finally answered, before they set out on a quest.

Alexandra reached where she'd left Terrence behind before, only to find that he'd moved, so she was left without any leads, causing her to aimlessly wander around while still mid-flashback.

The Tetsu hunt wasn't going well, with them already being two carts in. Alexandra felt a great deal of guilt, seeing as how both of those had been her fault, so she was determined to recover from this by being useful.

Jude fired at it from a distance with her HBG, Cyrus slashed at its sides while in sword and shield mode as Leo jumped all around it, throwing down attacks from above with his glaive.

Alexandra charged forwards, only to immediately crash into the Tetsu crunching a boulder.

* * *

After waking up, she realised the failing of the hunt had been completely her fault. She got up, only to find that she wasn't immediately yelled at she expected to be.

"Aren't you angry?" Alexandra asked, confused as to what was wrong.

"Not really, why?" Jude replied.

"I caused the quest to fail."  
"Well, yeah, I guess so, but, you did your best, right? Then it's good." Jude smiled.

Alexandra got up in silence, unsure how to respond to this.

"Oh yeah, I was sorta meaning to ask this if we won, but you wanna join our group?"

"Eh?"

"Well, we wanna reach the top, but so far we only got three members, so more's useful."

"But… how would I be able to help."  
"Well, that's fair, but we can make you improve. After all, we're the group that's gonna reach the top! That's why I called it sky chasers, you get it, cause it's like we're chasing-"

"Yeah I understand." Alexandra interrupted, before realising that was kind of rude, so she smiled somewhat weakly back instead.

* * *

After some more walking around, Alexandra finally spotted Terrence.

She began the conversation with "I need to apologise for earlier and after some thinking I-" only to be interrupted by Terrence also wanting to start the conversation with "I don't want to train anymore."

Both of them were then in silence for a few seconds to process this, before Terrence then took the lead.

"Well I understand that there's some deep meaning to why you do it, but also I don't know what it is you just walked off without explaining anything, also I'm seriously not going to get anything done soon if I keep training like that, and it's not like being ridiculously strong's what I want to do it's just seeing the world and/or my dad, so…"

Both of them then parted ways without much further conversation, since there wasn't anything else left to bring up there now that was over.

* * *

As she went to go take a quest, Alexandra's memories continued onwards, reminding her why she had to do this.

After successfully hunting a Daimyo Hermitaur, the group was in high spirits. As they celebrated their victory, they heard a rumbling in the corner of the cave they were in.

A flying wyvern with the texture of rocks climbed out of the ground, its single horn raised towards the ceiling.

After noticing the hunters, it planted its feet into the ground and let out an ear splitting roar, stunning them into place.

As soon as they could move, the group of four took off sprinting, knowing that they couldn't fight this.

Cyrus ended up tripping up on something, at which point Leo attempted to distract the monster by jumping at its side, only to be knocked away by a tail swipe. He crashed into a wall.

The Monoblos crashed into Cyrus, something he was just barely managing to block it and attempted to stab at its side, but had no success.

He continued struggling, but this was quickly cut off as he was crushed into the wall behind him.

Everyone else started in a stunned silence, until Leo yelled something incomprehensible and charged forwards, only for his sudden burst of energy to be crushed as well, underneath the Monoblos' tail.

Alexandra remained frozen in place, unable to process this.

Jude kept yelling "Alex!" at her, as the Monoblos charged and began to charge for the lance user.

Jude then charged forwards without thinking, pushing her out of the way. Alexandra snapped into reality instantly, looking over at Jude. Jude then began with "We need to get out of her-" before the Monoblos' horn pierced her from the side, cutting her off completely.

Alexandra then took off running without looking back, before finally reaching the surface, the base camp.

Everything processed for a few seconds more, before she finally began to scream.

* * *

After she made it back to town, it continued to plague her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all my fault"

"If I had been stronger, then I could've saved everyone."

"All I did in that group was be dragged along, I had no intent of improving."

"Therefore, I caused its end."

"I'm sorry."  
"Yet it's still been done."

"It was my own selfishness that caused this."

"I'm sorry."

This continued for however many months or days or years it might've been, until she decided that she would at least face the wrath of those who had suffered because of her but were still alive.

* * *

She was unable to find any relations of Leo or Cyrus, but by chance she found one lead for Jude.

She walked into a tavern, after having waited outside for a few hours to make sure it was empty first.

Before the one woman working there could say anything, Alexandra quickly asked "Are you the mother of Jude Witherell?"

The woman's expression then shifted quickly "Yeah, Zenya's fine though. Coming in here just to ask that implies you knew her. So, who are you?"

"I'm… Alexandra. One of the members of Jude's hunting group." She said this with her head pointed towards the ground at all times, afraid to look up.

"I see… so you're the only one that survived that then." Zenya replied with more disdain in her voice than before.

"I've come to apologise… after all, you've probably already realised that it's all my fault that happened."

Zenya was silent this time.

"I don't know… how I can fix any of this… but at least this will be better than nothing."

"Jude… what did you think of her?"

"She was incredibly upbeat, always. Even someone as useless as me was accepted by her. I suppose it was infectious, now that I'm not with her I'm feeling nothing like how I did back then."

"Yeah, I guess that's how she was. She wanted to be the greatest hunter, you know? From when she was a kid. Sky chasers was the group she wanted to take the top, she never changed that name once for whatever reason."

Alexandra thought about how she had taken this away, but then realised something.

"I'm still a member of that group… right?" She asked.

Zenya was silent in response.

"Then… at least… I can do that for her."

Zenya then quietly responded with a sidewards look and "Yeah, I guess that'd work."

With that, Alexandra took off, attempting to aim towards the top. Years of intense training followed, with what would normally be unthinkable becoming daily routine.

Eventually, she established a better relationship with Zenya, but those feelings of guilt still followed her no matter what she did.

Until she could reach the top, until she could reach atonement, nothing was going to rest.

* * *

Terrence walked into the tavern, where the others had been for a while now.

Zach greeted him with "Oh, ya finally appeared."

"Yeah…" Terrence somewhat lazily replied "It didn't work, all that happened was that I almost died for a while."

"Huh, well, what have ya learnt from this?" Joseph asked.

"What have I learned from this?" Terrence asked back, genuinely not knowing.

"That my training is the best, and ya should never leave again, ever."

"Yeah, that's fair, I guess."

"You're still upset over something like that? Pathetic." A voice called out from the shadows.

"Whozzat? Wanna die?" Joseph snapped back.

"Hey now, that's no way to talk to a team member." An incredibly muscular man, 300 cm tall, emerged, inexplicably having been hidden the entire time.

Everyone was confused by who this could be.

"...Oh it's Riko." Lyra pointed out without much surprise, causing a lot from everyone, including Riko himself.

"Where are the similarities at!?" Joseph yelled, followed by Riko backing him up with "Yeah, this is a complete change of appearence!"

Lyra shrugged, not really getting it herself.

Another voice called out "Guess, you just didn't change enough, unlike me." before another similar looking man emerged from the shadows.

"Oh, it's Anthony." Everyone said in unison.

Anthony was silent out of not knowing how to respond to him having been so much more obvious, so Zach then continued the conversation with "How'd you both fit manage to hide in that same dark corner anyways?"

"Dunno, but still," Anthony replied "can't you see how important our super cool training journey to hell and back has made us?"

No one could respond to this, except for Lyra, who then pointed out "Even if you fill the frame now... that won't work if there's no frame to fill."

"Oh yeah good point." They both noted in unison before instantly but still incredibly painfully reverting to normal size.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Well there was a chapter that I've been sort of planning since the start, sort of just made up as I went along.

Alexandra was characterised in my version from near the start by being the only serious one, because I couldn't work what else to do with her, so hopefully this sort of explained why she's really the only one of the group to do what hunters in the games are pretty much expected to.

I don't have much to say here if I'm not apologising, maybe I should miss deadlines by a year more often.


	27. Midpoint

Zach Gilmore:

Height: 180 cm

Weapon: Gunlance

Monster: Zappy (Royal Ludroth)

Age: 24

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Yellow

Trivia: Has become more open about calling his afro Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The afro, after defeating many foes, has now earned this title.

* * *

"Shit, we're near new years." Zach noted.

"Since when?" Joseph asked back.

"Like… uh…this month?"

"Huh. Cool."  
"Wanna go to the festival tommorow?"  
"Sure."

* * *

The next day, most of the group met up, except for Alexandra who had gone to hunt and Sean who was nowhere to be seen anywhere.

"Well, this is as good as we're gonna get." Zach muttered, before the group began to aimlessly wander through the crowd.

Since about half of them had never really experienced crowds before, the mood was sort of awkward as they adjusted to it.

"It kinda sucks that we can't bring our monsters with us." Anthony thought aloud.

"Well, Sanchez is here," Callum replied "He's just dematerialised."

"What's that mean?" Natasha asked.

"Sanchez introduces new power systems all the time," Zach explained "you just get used to it after a while, it's not like any of us are powerful enough to question him."

They walked a while further, before seeing a bunch of people gathered around one spot. Upon looking over, it was the heads of the guild.

There were now eight this time, a clear improvement on the four that showed up last time.

* * *

He was able to recognise the previous four, seeing as how they hadn't changed at all since three years ago, but the others were a mystery.

He looked over to Callum. "Oi, give exposition."

"I'm listening though."

"Just quickly then."

Callum sighed then pointed first to an incredibly short yet still quite angered for no apparent reason girl. "Morgan Tanashi."

He then pointed at a flamboyant long haired man, who was somehow constantly sparkling. "Gol Platin."

Next, to a girl who was asleep on the floor, who Joseph hadn't even realised was meant to be there until Callum pointed. "Kara Kanap"

Finally, he pointed to a glasses wearing woman, who was constantly adjusting them while quietly mumbling something incomprehensible. "Corra Fay."

Joseph noticed overlap with the other glasses wearing hunter.

Despite how disorganised the subordinates seemed, the leader continued her speech anyways.

"We have gathered here today to celebrate the history of hunters themselves!" She began yelling "Without hunting, none of us would be here today. So, we of the Guild have prepared much to learn today about the history of hunting, as well as to learn of the tales of extraordinary hunters!"

"What, so this is kinda pointless." Joseph thought "They're just tryna make more people interested, I guess."

Even though he felt sort of uneasy around the higher ranked hunters, he decided to leave anyways, with the rest of the group gradually following.

* * *

"Ya reckon there'll be fireworks at midnight?" Ben asked.

"Prolly." Matt replied.

"Wanna go the place outside we went to last time?" Riko suggested.

"What?" Ben asked again.

"...When we first got here."

"..."

"What's the point, we already had two fireworks chapters." Alicia pointed out "Can't we focus on somethin' else for once?"

"We got a new cast now, and we're allowed one for each new character." Zach explained "So we can use this to stall for time while the author does everything except work on his story."

As they continued to walk, Alicia suddenly was dragged by forces beyond human control to the left, after noticing her disappearance everyone gradually turned in that direction to find Sean.

* * *

It was a shooting gallery, unsurprising for the one of the bowgun trio.

They then watched as a couple walked up, with one of them pointing at what they wanted and the other trying to shoot. Usually, you'd expect them to win it, it'd be a nice scene. But, the prize refused to fall.

After losing pretty much everything they had on them, the couple retreated, with no flags having appeared.

"Wait, so do these guys just have shit aim?" Zach thought, before Lyra suddenly appeared behind him.

"I checked. The prizes are nailed down."

Everyone then turned to Sean. "The zeni is just so they can shoot the gun. I never said anything about being able to win prizes."

Everyone had no idea how to respond to this, but when Alicia finally began to lecture him about how immoral this is he interrupted with "If you can knock down the prize at the back I'll go on a date with you."

She was then silent, before quickly and silently paying the 100 zeni and raising the gun.

The rest of the group turned to walk away in unison, but Alicia quickly grabbed Matt.

"You're helping."

Matt understood that the only way to get out of this situation alive was to cling to the hope they could succeed.

"I don't get it." Natasha asked "Why's she doing it even when she knows it won't work."

"To cling to hope despite seeing only doom is a foolishness only humans are granted." Ed said, reminding everyone he was still there.

* * *

As they walked further, Zach looked over at some weapons for sale. "Huh… the gunlances seem neat. Too bad they're so hard to get."

After a few minutes of walking, Lyra suddenly appeared again. "Here." She said, handing Zach one of the gunlances.

"Oh, ya bought it?" Zach replied "That's nice of ya, thanks a lot."

"Oh, so that was possible."

"...Oi."

"What?"

"Ya didn't steal this, did you?"

"...Perhaps."

"It doesn't matter whether it was stolen, nya." Shoot added "It's the thought that counts."

"Well no it matters cause that's a crime my dude." Zach replied.

Just then, several people they'd seen before ran towards them. "There's the gunlance that was stolen! After them!"

Zach looked at Lyra in silence, at which point she announced.

"It appears we've been discovered," she then put a hand on Zach's shoulder "Boss."

Zach processed this for a few seconds more, before taking off running, figuring there wasn't really any correct way of dealing with this anymore. Lyra and Shoot quickly followed.

* * *

As they continued to walk, they noticed an arm wrestling competition going on.

Those participating yelled an invitation to join and while most of the group was able to ignore this, Riko and Anthony felt too deprived of screentime to refuse.

Surprisingly, they were able to rise to the top fairly quickly, making it clear that their ridiculous amounts of training two weeks ago had paid off.

As they had finally reached the top, Alexandra approached.

"Oh, it's you two." She began "I was kinda caught up with hunting, but I still managed to make it. Do you know where everyone else is?"

"They already left. But still, more importantly, wanna join this arm wrestling competition."

"Sure."

"Just as planned." Riko thought.

"I'm pretty confident in my strength." He continued to internally monologue "If I can defeat you here, then that officially makes me the strongest in this group. You've had everything until now, three entire chapters dedicated pretty much solely to you, that was Anthony's intro as well you know. You even took up half of my chapter during the timeskip. But now, when I become the strongest and wisest of this group, this will all be over. My time in the spotlight finally approaches!"

The arm wrestling match began.  
Riko lost instantly.

Both he and Alexandra were fairly surprised.

Anthony laughed nervously "Well, that didn't last long! Guess, I'm up next."

He also got an internal monologue "Well, looks like Riko's out. Still, I'll avenge you, and claim this spot of relevance for my own! Seriously, my own backstory was a background detail in someone else's focus chapter. It's super serious, you know, but it's just a joke to you people. If I can win this, then next chapter's gonna be focused on me!"

Anthony lost even faster than instantly.

As he lay defeated on the ground, a figure mysteriously appeared on the buildings above.  
"It looks like you've been crushed into the ground, mere insects! I suppose I'll step in to show you how it's really done!"

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Anthony yelled.

"The guy who was thrown into the group at the last minute!" Alexandra yelled.

"Chuuni dude who I forgot about pretty much instantly!" Riko yelled.

"My name's Edward, damnit!" He yelled, before going to jump off before getting scared and slowly but safely climbing down.

"Now it's my turn to participate! Fear my power!" He yelled.

As he placed his arm on the barrel he also began to internally monologue. "Sorry, but for the sake of my ambition I'm going to have to even the odds a little. The moment this match begins, Revel shall shoot a fireball towards your head. I doubt it'll kill, but in accordance with rule eight hundred and ninety seven of the arm wrestling guidelines sixth edition, a participant will be disqualified if they are set on fire during a match. Once I have won this match, even though it's by rules, it shall still be my victory, so finally, after not even getting a focus chapter for my introduction, the readers shall understand that I have an actual personality!"

The match began and Ed looked over as Revel attempted to snipe from the same rooftop from before. The fireball approached Alexandra's head, with every second he felt his victory was more and more guaranteed. The fireball finally connected and did nothing, no one even noticed there had been one.

Ed had less than a second to feel confusion before Alexandra slammed his arm into the barrel so hard it broke, leaving a crater in the ground and Ed lying sideways in it.

"Ah. Sorry." Alexandra said in deadpan, unsure how she did that.

He attempted to maintain relevancy by muttering something like "Not bad." but was already unable to move.

Alexandra was then declared "Arm Wrestling God" and many more challengers approached to attempt to take that title, making her unable to find the rest of the group.

* * *

A lone martial artist walked the streets, looking for worthy opponents to challenge.

He looked around, before seeing the group drinking. He noticed a strong fighting aura being emitted by some of the party.

He walked up to them. "You lot. I challenge you to a duel."

Four of them decided to participate, while the other trio just sat there. "Aren't you also going to join?" He asked, to which Vert replied "Why should I?"

He had no way to come back to this, suffering defeat in this battle.

The group that had been gathered consisted of Ben, Natasha, Natalie and Callum.

"Then, let the first challenger step forth!"

Ben stepped forward.

"I see. I shall meet your challenge. Remember this, my name is-!"

Ben punched him in the face before he could finish his speech.

"Wait, I'm not-"

Ben continued punching, until he suddenly missed and dropped to the floor.

The nameless martial artist then moved to kick him, but Ben somehow rolled the exact opposite way he was expecting.

The fight continued on for a little while longer before he worked out what was going on. "I see now… the reason why I can't predict any of these attacks is because he can't predict them either!" He was up against the drunken fist style, somehow.

As the fight continued onwards, the martial artist thought he was about to get the upper hand, when suddenly he was attacked from the side by a punch from Natasha, also using the drunken fist.

The martial artist was then infinitely comboed by the two of them, in perfect unison for some reason.

Suddenly, Natasha stopped and turned to Ben. "Both of us use switching weapons. So we should find out which is stronger."  
Ben nodded and replied "There can only be one."

They then began to fight, while the nameless martial artist turned to the remaining two.

He got up, dusted himself off and stepped forwards.

"Next challenger!" He looked to Natalie "My name is-!"  
"I don't really want to fight, sorry."

The nameless martial artist couldn't respond to this, so he turned to Callum.  
"Last challenger!" He figured this was the last chance he would have to announce his name! "My na-"

He then paused, in fear of a great presence he noticed.

It lunged towards him, causing him to be launched into a wall.  
In this moment he understood. The fighting spirit he noticed before had not come from any of the hunters, but the lingering presence of this all powerful Great Jaggi.  
The martial artist admitted defeat and bowed down to his new overlord.

Meanwhile the fight between Natasha and Ben lead to a double knockout, so Natalie couldn't really do anything other than stay here and wait for them to recover.

* * *

As the group continued onwards, they finally found the place where hunting was being advertised.

Terrence looked over briefly, and noticed the name "Aron Gandor." He sort of wanted to leave, which Joseph noticed.

"Do ya wanna go learn about yer dad?" He quickly asked.

"Well yeah, even though I know he's a legendary hunter I really don't know that much about what he's done. It might give me an idea where he is now. But there's barely anyone left in the group."  
"It's good, it's good. We already lost this many along the way, what's one more?"

With that Terrence disappeared, and there were two more left.

* * *

They finally managed to exit Dundorma, after getting both Nargy and Vrai to join them.

"Oh, now that I think about it." Vert began "I've never actually seen fireworks before."

"Seriously?" Joseph asked in reply "We had two chapters dedicated to em since ya got introduced, y'know?"

"It's not like I was there for that. They weren't around where I was staying anyways."

"Well, should be interestin' to see yer first reaction, then."

"What's even so good about them, anyways?"

"An excellent question. Too bad I dunno."

"Seriously?"

"Well, they look cool I guess. Anything else needed?"

They reached something that looked sorta like the spot and decided to stop there, with Joseph now lying on Nargy's back while Vert sat on the grass, because blades are uncomfortable to rest on.

Finally it began, ending a few minutes later after some awkward silence from the group.

"So, what'd you think? Pretty great, huh?"

"Kinda… okay?"

"No."

"But that's what I thought."

"Yeah but like… say something nicer, ta fit the mood."

"Why would I do that? It's pointless."

"Look, the year only changes once a year, try ta get with it! People lie about everything all the time, there's nothing wrong with making a nice scene for once."

Joseph then turned to Nargy "This was yer first time seeing them too, right? What'd ya think, huh?"

Nargy didn't like loud noises much, so he just had his ears covered the entire time.

"Well that's fair, I guess. Ya still got no taste though, yer wrong."  
He looked at Vrai, who was just as deadpan as Vert about this. "All of ya, fools."

They continued in silence for a little while longer, until Joseph realised something.  
"Oh yeah, we're halfway through this century now, aren't we?"

"I guess so? That's not really something I've ever thought about."

"Well, what's more important here is that this the perfect time for things to start changing, since we're at the halfway point."

"Like?"

"...Yes."

"Still though." Joseph continued in his thoughts "It's been like… twenty years since then, huh? It might be a good idea to start going after it… but still, if I'd wanted to do that, I'd have done it already. All pursuing it last time did was take things away from me… So, what I have to do now is just stay here. Here is the best place I can possibly be."

* * *

So, the second half of the century began, with seven members of the gang lying on the floor defeated, one counting money, another being worshipped, two more on standby, one learning more about his goal and two sitting outside Dundorma.

Whether it would be a time period of great change or just like everything else was yet to be decided, as the stage was finally set.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

And that brings a close to 1349, which went on slightly longer than I had expected it to. I realised after posting the last chapter I needed to change the year over, so this works since the series is now working in somewhat desynced real time, maybe it'll catch up one day.

I don't have much to say, but I should probably provide the warning that just because I implied there would be some importance coming up that things will shift instantly, I want to still have some fun first.

See you in two weeks again, I guess.


	28. Resolutions

Ben Gilmore:

Height: 176 cm

Weapon: Switch Axe

Monster: Plessy (Plesioth)

Age: 25

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Brown

Eye colour: Blue

Trivia: Still really likes listening to Queen.

* * *

"New Year's Resolutions!" Joseph randomly yelled.

No one knew how to respond until Lyra replied "What."

"They suck!"

"...what."

"When the year starts, everyone always tries to do new things so they can feel good. But it never sticks, the feeling ya got then is always gone after a day or two. Seriously, it can be anythin'! Spendin' less, gettin' in shape, quittin' smokin', updatin' regularly, seekin' revenge! So I'm sick of it, my new year's resolution is to not make anymore of these!"

"Ya broke every single one before this a few hours after though." Ben pointed out.

"Exactly! The cycle's gonna be broken right here!"

"Well, now that's out of the way, anyone else?" Zach asked, cutting off Joseph.

"Wait ya can't just do somethin' I disagree with, I'm the self-insert here."  
"If ya don't want in, we're continuin' without ya. At this point, ya've had so little screentime no one even knows you're the self-insert until ya point it out. Bear the burden of the path you've chosen for this chapter."

Joseph then retreated into the darkness, feeling betrayed.

The rest of the group remained silent, not really having thought of any, since it didn't matter that much to them.

But, there were still two who remained silent, yet felt determined.

* * *

Introversion, the state of being shy and reticent.

While in real life this would be fine, it's terrible for getting screentime. Now that their introduction arcs were over, both Terrence and Natalie knew that they would end up like the others unless they did something about it.

Using their psychic connection they decided to study those who were like them, to see how they could escape this.

First, they observed Lyra.

However, she did nothing, embracing the true nature of the deadpan and remaining perfectly stationary. It was quite difficult to tell if she was even breathing.

She then spoke, without looking over at them. "My trick is to become so deadpan it becomes a joke in itself. I can be used to make observations that everyone else has the emotional intelligence not to. Such as pointing out how we're having a new year's chapter a six weeks after new year's."

Since this role was already taken, there wasn't much they could do here, so they turned to Shoot.

"I'm a melynx, nya know? So this kind of dialogue is annoying to write, nya. That's why I never get to say anything, nya."

They had no means to respond to this and simply moved onto the next target.

* * *

The delusional one, Ed.  
"No, it's Edward." He corrected the narration.

One who deals with his complete inability to interact with anyone by pretending to be someone of great power.

"No seriously, it's nothing like that." Ed continued "I'm just super powerful, I keep saying it because none of you can understand it."

"Well, anyways, so any advice you'd give for talking for people?" Natalie tried to steer the conversation away from Ed's insecurities, while he muttered "I heard that" at the narration.

"Well," Ed continued onwards "Just be really loud. Then they won't be able to tell that you're not saying anything."

"Then, guess we'll try that." Terrence replied.

However, they both realised they were physically incapable of raising their voices at all, so this plan failed. The chuunibyou was completely useless to them.

"Seriously, do you think that just because you're a force outside of the world's limitations I won't fight you? I'm always doing that." Ed responded to the narration once again.

* * *

They checked Riko and Anthony, who after the events of the last two chapters had shrunk into a corner, unmoving. It was difficult to tell if they were even still alive. They had also mastered the state of deadpan, unintentionally. Both Terrence and Natalie silently agreed to not deal with this.

* * *

Next, they found Vert, who immediately denied it.

"I am perfectly good at talking to people. I talk to a lot of people. Every day. And we are friends. Who talk with each other. And are friendly. Because we talk with each other. Regularly."

Terrence then, unaware of the damage he could cause, replied "But I've never seen you get along with anyone other than Vrai."

He then heard the sound of something shattering, followed by the impact of a tonfa to the face and the sounds of footsteps running away.

"Maybe that was a bad idea…" Natalie thought aloud.

"Yeah… good point." He said back.

* * *

Next, they approached Callum.

As the first character without much dialogue to appear, he was truly a master in the art of not doing anything compared to the two of them. Even when he was in the first four, he has still received absolutely no character development whatsoever.

Callum felt somewhat awkward as this was described, before finally asking the two. "What was the point of any of this anyways? I don't think ya can learn anything by doing this."

Callum was of no use, though he would probably surely get to do something someday.

They wrote up their observations.

* * *

Don't be deadpan as it'd be pointless

Don't speak weirdly or you never will

Don't be dramatic or the universe hates you

Don't be violent

Don't give into despair

Don't exist without some character development going on

* * *

"This seems kinda… negative." Terrence noted.

"Then we'll just do the negative of this." Natalie replied.

"What does that even mean?"

"Just ask the ones with screentime what they do."

* * *

First they walked up to Ben.

"I don't give a shit about screentime. I just hit things until they die. That's really it."

Neither of them were violent enough for this, being built up specifically to be the harmless members of the cast.

* * *

When asked, Zach just aimlessly shrugged, having no idea himself how he managed to get a role as one of the main characters. Luck was a very powerful factor.

* * *

"So yer worried about screentime, huh?" Joseph asked "Well, no need ta worry. As the main character and the one with the most lines of dialogue by a lead of a few hundred probably, I know a thing or two about this."

"Ok, so how do we get there?" Terrence asked back.

Joseph had no idea had to answer this. After being defeated in an argument a few hours ago, he had given into despair for this chapter. To be approached like this was a great chance for him, the chance to get to do his first cool thing in this arc. In his excitement, he'd said a cool line with nothing to follow it up, unable to explain how he was the main character outside of his self-insert status and power that he didn't know how he got.

"If yer resolution is ta get more screentime," He began, not knowing where he was going "Then I guess mine's ta help out."

In this situation of having shot himself in the foot while trying to look cool, the answer he settled upon was to shoot himself in the other foot as well. An accidental mistake is stupid, but if it looks like it was on purpose then no one can find any problems, as they were all planed for. He had decided to help with no clue as to how, but by doubling down and making it seem like it would be over a period of time, he could maybe work something out.

"But didn't you just say you weren't making any resolutions this year?" Terrence pointed out.

As his world shattered, Joseph realised the problem that had been sneaking up on him from the start. It crashed upon him, breaking down the cool image he was trying to build. As his image broke, so did Joseph. He slowly turned to dust and was blown away by the wind.

"I guess he won't help out." Natalie noted.

* * *

After watching the last of his body drift away, they found Alexandra.

"I don't care that much for screentime." She informed them "I just hit things until they die."

"Didn't we just hear this?" Both thought in unison.

* * *

Next the gunner trio appeared.

"I'll tell ya how, for 90000 zeni." Sean told them "A day. For the rest of your lives."

"Hey, don't scam 'em on somethin' like this." Protested Alicia "In a situation like this, it's nice ta help em out."

"If ya join in on the scheme then I'll go on a date with you." Sean replied.

Alicia quickly spun around and told the pair "But it's not like ya can expect everything in life for free, so pay up, guys."

Matt then spoke up to attempt to put a stop to this "I get that we get screentime, but this trio consists of a dude who would kill for money, an extremely powerful stalker and me, so yer prolly not gonna learn much here."

* * *

Finally, they approached Natasha, who just asked them "Why do you care? You're fine the way you are now. What even is screentime?"

A great revelation occurred within the pair.

While the entire time they had been focused on this sole thing, when it was brought up like that they realised they had no reason to care at all in the slightest about any of this. Their lives before had probably existed, so even if they faded into the background of the story, nothing would actually change. In fact, things might get easier, they'd be at less risk of being harmed for comedy.

Joseph than partially reformed from scattered dust to laugh at them for falling into his predictions for the start, but it was meaningless due to his impatience from earlier, so he was scattered by the winds once more.

"Well that was entirely pointless, I guess." Terrence thought aloud, looking over the notes they had taken for the second section.

* * *

Be violent

Be lucky

Remember to exist

See point 1

Sell your soul to money

Sell your soul to Sean

Be part of a trio

* * *

"Well, it was probably fun, right?" Natalie asked back, unsure herself what had just happened.

"I guess so? It's not like we could do much other than watch. Just learnt a, others don't really matter, be yourself, type moral thing."

As they walked off, Natalie suddenly remembered something.

Riko and Anthony remained in their despair corner, unmoving.

Natalie stepped forward, finally ready to deal with them.

"Whether you get screentime doesn't matter at all." She said, having the same great effect her sister's words had on her earlier.

They were finally saved from their recurring joke of jealousy towards popular people, followed by Riko letting out a small "Oh." As he realised this left him without any purpose again.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

I have no idea why any of this was written but it just sorta kept going until it became this.

Maybe one day this series will go back to monster hunting.


	29. Obligatory Tournament Arc (1)

Callum Gilmore:

Height: 187 cm

Weapon: Dual Blades

Monster: Roberto Manchez Sanchez the third (Greatest Jaggi)

Age: 24

Place of origin: Loc Lac

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Brown

Trivia: Was thought to have been killed, actually just went back in time.

* * *

The gang was idly sitting around, as they do before the start of each chapter, when suddenly Sean teleported into the room, holding a poster.  
"We're entering this." He informed them.

 **ULTRA CONQUEROR OF THE REALM TOURNAMENT TURBO DELUXE REVELATOR CORE EX LATEST LAST FINAL DUNDORMA EDITION 3**

"Oh, the hunter's tournament." Alexandra noted, somewhat surprised anyone other than her had an interest in that.

"I'm pretty sure Ed wrote that…" Callum pointed out.

"Well, the title's bound to get a bit weird when they change it every year for who knows how long." Alexandra briefly wondered if she had ever seen it be normal, before continuing anyways "Still, this is usually something that you need to be seriously into hunting to be interested in, I'm surprised that you want to enter. It's a good thing to see you taking hunting so seriously for once, everyone else could with learning from-"

She was interrupted by Sean silently pointing to the part of the poster showing reward money.

Even though Alexandra was disappointed, she had never entered the tournament before, so she figured that she might as well use this chance.

Everyone else just joined for the money.

The group signed up, with about half an hour left until the tournament started. So, they decided to walk around while they waited.

"Hey Zach," Joseph began "Ain't Alexandra and Sean taking this a bit too seriously?"

"Well yeah I guess, but it's still nice to have a tournament arc every now and then even if we don't get to use our monsters."

"Won't a story that's main gimmick is monster taming sink if we take away the monsters?"

"Maybe, but it's not like we've had monsters in a few weeks, so who cares."

They continued to disregard the fourth wall, until Joseph walked into someone.

He looked down to see a dude with black hair, shorter than he was.

"Ah, sorry kid." He muttered.

"I'm not a kid." The midget replied.

"Wait what?" Joseph said, mostly to himself, before something clicked in his mind.

He then started laughing at the shortness of the man in front of him, making every short joke that came to his mind, while the man stared at him blank-faced.

"Why is he doing this?" Natalie asked "We should stop him, it's really rude."

"Nope, let him have this." Zach sighed.

"But isn't that bad?" She asked.

"In his entire life, Joseph has never met a dude smaller than he is. Hasn't grown a day since he was about fourteen. So just… let him have this."

The man then had someone taller walk up to him "Josh, what are you doing? We need to get going."

"Ah, sorry, I was just getting laughed at… Anyways, let's go."

They then walked off, Joseph too busy laughing to notice.

Callum then walked towards them, somewhat hurriedly "The tournament's about to start, why are ya still here?"

Joseph then replied "Did you see that guy over there, look at how damn short he is, it's amazing."

Callum then looked in the direction he was pointing "Woah, it's "Reaper's Envoy" Joshua and "Frozen Flames" Isaac."

"...What?" Joseph instantly snapped out of his good mood, now looking worried.

"Quite a famous duo around here. Shrouded in mystery, the pair of them. Isaac is cold and calculating, while Josh is more open, quite a ladies' man apparently. Use really unorthodox weapons too, an accelaxe and a scythe, which got them those titles. They're super respected as well, even taken out elder dragons. They must be entering, now I'm interested in this tournament."

Joseph went silent for a few seconds, before muttering "I'll crush that midget."

"What?" Everyone thought in unison, but didn't want to grab the attention of the demon that had just suddenly awakened.

Joseph continued anyways "He's clearly tryna take the spot of main character from me! Think about it, scythes are just long swords, but it's there just so he can be unique and mysterious. He's super popular, takes big hunts, part of a duo rather than a massive group of side characters like I am, he even stole my short gimmick. What have I got that he hasn't?"  
Joseph was genuinely asking this question and reached an answer by himself "Aura. I'll crush him with aura."

He then ran off, now determined to ruthlessly destroy everyone else in the tournament and take first place.

"Ain't that gonna undo the past few years of work he put into controlling aura…?" Zach wondered aloud, somewhat concerned.

The group then started moving, trying to find anything else to focus on.

"You know Callum," Natalie began "You're quite a nerd when it comes to popular hunters." She hadn't intended to sound that harsh, she thought that nerd just stood for someone who was a big fan of something.

Callum took a second to work out how to respond to this, finally settling on "Call me that again and you won't wake up anymore."  
Natalie didn't get what she'd done wrong, but she was terrified enough to stop the conversation there.

Finally, they returned and got ready to start.

* * *

The first round was a race, about 2000 metres.

The contestants were getting ready, when a man with spiky hair, surrounded by a group of 9 others proclaimed "Inferior contestants, withdraw before you taste failure, for we, the ten blades, shall win this tournament!"

No one moved.

"Only one of you can win." Someone pointed out.

"Well yeah, but like, one of us will. And it'll be me."

"I'm gonna win, if anyone will." A man with gelled back hair who was a part of the group noted.

"I can't lose with my ability, you know" A girl who was also part of the group smugly argued.

"Hey, guys, I'm the leader, so obviously the strongest, right? You're making us look uncool." The spiky-haired one argued back.

"Well I mean your tactics are a bit… unsuited for normal use." A long-haired man pointed out.

"I am old and therefore the strongest" an elderly man stated.

The arguing amongst the group continued, while the rest just ignored them and got ready to start.

In total, there were around fifty participants.

"Now then!" An excited announcer suddenly appeared "The race is going to begin! One mile of running, only the first twenty four will advance! Who's gonna make it!?"

"Whozzat?" Zach asked Callum.

Callum sighed and replied "Hitoiki Costelli. We already saw her before, way back at the start of the series, one of them high-ranking hunters types."

"Don't she got work?"

"They usually show up to watch this, guess they enjoy it?"

"This kind of character doesn't really work well if you can't hear the voice"

Ben joined in the whispered conversation "Yer breaking the fourth wall a bit much here."

"Joseph's currently plannin' on a murder, so I've gotta do it for the both of us."

The countdown began, with all the hunters getting ready to go.

A gun was fired somewhere, signalling the start.

Joseph took off in a rush, fueled by unearthly anger, but collapsed a few seconds later, since he wasn't good at running.  
The other fighters silently ran past, when he heard fans cheering for Josh.  
Joseph was then pulled off the ground by some other-worldly force and began running again, his energy seemingly limitless.

Meanwhile, the ten blades had encountered a problem early, as their old man character had run out of strength a few seconds in. While the rest ran on, determined to win, one remained.

"Mikhail…" the old man muttered.

"Don't worry, Ugo!" A man in heavy armour assured him "I'll get you to the next round!"

"There's no point in an old man like me making it, I'm just not suited for this anymore" Ugo joked back "Youngsters like you should just focus on yourselves, now."

"No, you told me it was your dream to see the second round of this tournament! I definitely won't leave you here, I'll carry you this mile if I need to!"

Natalie and Terrence silently watched this exchange, feeling quite moved by the mystery man in armour, until they realised that while they weren't moving the rest of the crowd had gotten way ahead.

While this was happening Matt tried running for a while, however he had made a fatal miscalculation. After at least four years of being carried everywhere by Klaus, he had gotten bad at running long distances, which is what caused him to collapse roughly halfway through, unable to move anymore. Ed saw him go down and felt like doing the same, he wasn't in the state of not having run anywhere for four years, he was just bad at running, though he still continued, not wanting to be taken out first.

Shoot and Lyra disappeared during this time, due to not being bothered to continue, alongside other contestants that the universe had decided to give no personality, as it couldn't be bothered.

Finally, the first round started to draw to a close, with Natalie and Terrence far behind because of earlier, competing over twenty-fourth place. But behind, they heard the sound of armour clanking. Even though he was even further behind than them, the man in the armour from before continued running forwards, determined to continue to the second round.

While they did want to win, they also felt like they couldn't stop his victory, so their running gradually turned into a slow walk. Eventually, the armoured man passed them, with both of them supporting him silently. He crossed the finish line at last, joining the rest of his team, all of them now having been successful in making it. The two were so happy for him it took them a second to realise this meant they'd been eliminated from the tournament.

* * *

"Now then!" Hitoiki suddenly appeared again, somehow having gotten here before anyone else "We're starting the second round, as that race was too uneventful to be its own chapter!"

"Is she allowed to do that?" Zach wondered aloud.

She then flung her arms around in the general direction of the area behind her, signalling that was important. "Around here there are eight medals, looking like this! You've gotta find them and bring them back here! Only the ones that bring them back advance to the finals!"

Everyone was then prepared to get going, before she interrupted them "First, you need to equip your weapons and maybe armour if you haven't already! Cause there could be monsters!"

Everyone decided to do as she said, since if they argued they'd probably be kicked out, so they all ran in separate directions into the area.

* * *

The first to find a medal was Ben, when suddenly he heard someone land behind him. It was the girl who was a part of the group of sword users from earlier.

"You should've already noticed by now, this isn't just a competition to see who can find the medals the fastest. Fighting was never banned, so it's a fight to see which eight will emerge victorious. Now, fight me!" She yelled.

"Sure, been meaning to hit somethin' for a while now!" Ben replied.

"I'm not gonna let you past. My name is Cleo of the imitation style, the fifth of the ten blades! I can instantly copy any sword technique I see!"

Ben drew his weapon, in axe mode.

Velvet stared at him in silence for a few moments, before coughing up blood and collapsing. "You're… not bad."

Ben felt disappointed and briefly wondered how she was a hunter, before heading back to the start to move to the next round.

* * *

Ed continued to run through a forest, feeling incredibly tired still. From behind him, he heard footsteps approaching and spun around to see a man with gelled-back hair appear, looking quite tired. Both of them stopped to catch their breath before they started their fight.

Finally the swordsman began "My name is Apollo of the wind style, the fourth of the ten blades! I'm the fastest member of the group!"

"How cute…" Ed replied "My name is Edward, the conqueror of demon kings!"

"Oh, that's not a bad title, we should probably work something about demons into our titles."

"Yes, it is indeed a good idea. Even though most people these days don't believe in them, there's definitely something about demons which strikes a sense of fear into the hearts of men, to call yourself above that causes even more fear."

"Well still, I suppose that if you're someone above demons, then cutting you down here will make me above-above demons." Apollo replied.

"Do not be so conceited, first prove your skill." Ed felt respect for this kindred spirit, not that he would let it show.

"Then, prepare yourself." Apollo warned him, before disappearing.

Ed was confused, but raised his guard, expecting an attack from anywhere.

Then, Apollo appeared once more, behind him, trying to catch his breath.

"Is something the matter, challenger, have you already exhausted your strength?" Ed asked, somewhat concerned.

"Yeah, kinda." Apollo was too tired to keep doing the act "Wind style really drains energy fast."

"Oh okay." Was the only response Ed could manage as he waited for him to get ready to try again.

Finally, Apollo recovered and swung his blade, only to get blocked quite easily. He then disappeared once more, attempting to swing from the side, which took Ed by surprise. While Ed was pushed back, Apollo lept into the air for an overhead strike, only to be narrowly blocked.

Apollo then went for another strike, but stopped again, this time out of breath. Deciding he couldn't wait for much longer, Ed suddenly announced "Now I shall take the offensive! Prepare yourself!"

He then unsheathed his sword, swinging it. Apollo swayed to the side to dodge it, but was then hit from behind by Ed's shield, collapsing to the ground instantly.

Ed paused a moment, before attempting to save this ending with "Perhaps in another life, we could've been friends."

Apollo seemed satisfied with that conclusion and passed out.

Ed still didn't have a medal after that, so he continued the way he was going before.

* * *

Vert found a medal and was about to take it, when a spiky-haired man dramatically jumped into view.

"My name is Flame, the first of the ten blades! I'll defeat you here, with my-!"

"Fire style?" Vert interrupted.

"How'd you guess?"

Vert looked at his sorta fire-shaped hair, thought about his name and looked at his armour was covered in fire patterns. "I'm just that good."

"Then, here I go." Flame announced, preparing himself "Burning soul!"

He then caught on fire.

Vert was confused, but Flame charged forwards anyways, to which Vert stepped to the side.

Flame then collapsed to the ground after missing the first swing. "Looks like it's over for me…" He audibly thought "I leave winning this tournament to you, my comrades."

He was now unconscious, thankfully the flames put themselves out and he seemed not that badly injured.

Vert processed what just happened for a few seconds more, before looking back to the medal, which was gone.

"Having no presence is pretty handy sometimes" Callum thought as he ran back to the starting area, to advance to the next round.

* * *

The midget scythe user who had been briefly introduced earlier found a medal and got ready to go back, when suddenly Joseph appeared behind him.

"So you made it here…" Josh began the conversation, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Oh, it's unlike someone as perfect as yerself to want conflict."

"You've been glaring daggers at me since before the start, I've just accepted there's no way around this."

"Well, still, I'll take ya out here, faker!"

"...Faker?"

"Yeah, I mean after all, yer tryna steal my thing, right? So I'll take you out before you can! If lose in your first appearance, then there's no way you can have a good enough first impression to stay in the series!"

Josh said nothing, but his reaction was somewhere between "Oh that's all there is to it." and "Are you kidding?", as he readied his scythe.

Joseph then pulled his sword off his back, having been ready to fight for a while before he got here.

Joseph charged forward, with the man he'd decided was his rival waiting to counter.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

Like the Alexandra chapter a few weeks ago, here's something I've been planning on writing for at least a year and a half.

Overall, I'm looking forward to it, but mostly the stuff to come.

I also spent way more time that I thought I would giving the ten blades personalities, so I guess that for some reason I'm now attached to them.


End file.
